A docência do(a) professor(a) de educação física com bebês no contexto da educação infantil

Abstract

Historically, pedagogical practices with infants have been one of the main challenges for professionals working in early childhood education. This is especially true to physical education (PE) teachers who strive to promote mediations that integrate care as a shared attitude among other professionals and language areas. Considering an interest in teaching practices and envisioning possibilities to re-signify them, this study aims to analyze the challenges and possibilities of teaching PE to infants in early childhood education. This is a research in the field of childhood studies, which is in constant dialogue with the sociology of childhood, cultural geography, and the geography of childhood. It also draws on insights from other fields of knowledge and contemporary studies relevant to these reflections. This qualitative research is inspired by ethnography approaches and focuses on the PE pedagogical mediations in a Group I/II (mixed group) class. This class consisted of 22 children, aged six months to two years old, and enrolled in a Municipal Early Childhood Education Center, located in Vitória/ES. The research was conducted over four months, distributed over 15 weeks, totaling 18 field visits. For data collection, participant observation was employed, with records kept in a field diary, photographic documentation, and a semi-structured interview with the PE teacher responsible for the class. Data analysis was conducted on three categories: the infants’ first interactions, the relationships resulting from these interactions with peers and professionals, and their spatial experiences and authorships. Throughout the study, particular attention was given to issues emerging from observations of pedagogical practices shaped by different expressive languages. Among these, PE and music stood out as central to this research. The expressed intention of this study is to identify didactic-pedagogical assumptions arising from practice, and reflect on mediations that incorporate attentive care to details. The goal is to move beyond the maturational perspective traditionally applied to infants and, instead, recognize them as active subjects in their own developmental processes. This research highlights the importance of valuing everyday experiences as spaces of rich learning and the knowledge production. Furthermore, it reinforces the need for more studies that address PE pedagogical practices for infants. By doing so, it aims to promote recognition of this area within early childhood education, increase its visibility, and contribute to discussions n infants’ spatial experiences in educational settings.