Formação continuada e Educação das Relações Étnico-Raciais: as danças populares nas artes de fazer docente com a Educação Infantil

Abstract

The main goal of this dissertation is to analyze the teachers’ arts of making that are mediated by continuing education in a context in which popular dances are thematized from the perspective of Education of Ethnic-Racial Relations (ERER, in Portuguese) and in confronting racism in Early Childhood Education. This is a qualitative study, which combines descriptive-interpretive research with collaborative action research. The subjects of the descriptive-interpretative research are 24 teachers who work in the municipal public Early Childhood Education network in the city of Vitória/ES. In collaborative action research, there are 29 teachers participating in continuing education aimed at ERER, via university extension courses. The results of the descriptive-interpretative investigation indicated that teachers make different uses of popular dances in the context of Early Childhood Education as, in addition to addressing varied rhythms, they appropriate them to insert children into the local culture, contextualizing the manifestations that take place in the neighborhoods of Vitória Metropolitan Area. It was identified that dances, songs, cirandas, and circle games are often used, encompassing different practices throughout the school year. However, we consider that the centrality of the child and his/her role in this process is still superficial. At the same time that popular dances are considered powerful knowledge and are used by teachers at ERER, we noticed that there are barriers associated with religious issues. There is resistance and prejudice among families in accepting dances that are related to Afro-centered matrices. In addition to these challenges, teachers highlighted the need for specific training, more material resources, and didactic-pedagogical support. The results of collaborative action research indicate that, based on the theoretical-methodological contribution that associates teacher training with the production of knowledge with the collaborative relationship between participants in continuing education, this method provides opportunities for teacher protagonism, mediated by horizontal relationships, co-decision, and reflective writing practices. The teachers’ narratives indicate that collaborative action research allows the development of continuing education as a collective place to think about pedagogical mediations related to ERER. Thus, the educational process takes place in the dialogue between trainers and trainees, with an association between the university and the school – the latter represented by the teachers’ practices and characterized as a hybrid place, linking different realities experienced by different subjects who are in a training path. Still in the collaborative action research, teachers' arts of making related to popular dances for ERER in Early Childhood Education were identified and analyzed – practices that were provoked by the continuing education in which they participated. In the preparation of their projects, already carried out or to be developed, the teachers mobilized different languages and sought to include children's agencies in their pedagogical practices, with literature and popular dances of African origin as the main mediating elements for ERER. Based on these results, we affirm that popular dances are cultural manifestations that enable and enhance ERER in Early Childhood Education.