Early Childhood Education curriculum policies: is it possible to talk about differences?

Abstract

Discussing curriculum in Early Childhood Education implies, above all, thinking about what it means to be a child, what this time of life means in a society marked by social inequalities. It is to reflect on which theoretical bases are the curricular guidelines for Early Childhood Education based on and whether these consider the diversity of children's groups. The study took as reference the post-critical theories of curriculum, public and curricular policies for Early Childhood Education and childhood sociology. From a qualitative methodological approach, it sought to analyze how the differences that are expressed through social class, ethnic-racial belonging, gender, culture, among others, are duly referenced and contemplated in the curriculum guidelines for Early Childhood Education, especially in the documents: National Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Common National Curriculum Base. The results indicate that a proposal for emancipatory early childhood education is threatened when policies increasingly standardize curricular guidelines and move towards a perspective of exclusion from diversity, silencing differences, which represents a setback to social and children's rights.