Interdisciplinarity in Health and Education Management: Raising Awareness of Early Childhood Schoolteachers about Daltonism

Abstract

This intervention research is based on the following questions: “What do early childhood schoolteachers understand color blindness to be?”, “Do teachers recognize the need for ongoing training to put into context and reflect on inclusive pedagogical practices in order to serve colorblind children?”, “Is it possible to plan screening and inclusion of these children in early childhood education?”. The goal is to raise awareness of teachers so that they can understand the difficulties faced by colorblind children. The study was focused on a Center for Early Childhood Education (CEI), which serves children aged from zero to three years and 11 months and on a School of Early Childhood Education (Emei) that serves children aged four to five years and 11 months, both located in the municipality of Sao Paulo. The subjects were 22 teachers, 2 pedagogical coordinators, 2 directors, 2 support agents and 2 technical educational assistants (ATE). The study adopted a qualitative intervention methodology, based on action research, and employed the following data-collection instruments: observation of the experience during the use of the toys, written testimonials and interviews. The research was based on the following authors: Mantoan, Santos, Farina and Oliveira. The results indicate that primary schoolteachers are not clear about what color blindness is, how it is genetically constituted, what difficulties children with colorblindness face in their school environments and how to plan an inclusive pedagogical approach in the presence of colorblind children in the classroom.