Desenvolvimento cultural da criança na Educação Infantil: contribuições da Teoria Histórico-Cultural

Abstract

The main issue in this dissertation is the process of child s cultural development in primary school (from 0 to 5 years old). We aimed at identifying whether the school and family contribute to children s cultural development, and how this process occurs, through the analysis of concepts from the children themselves, the teachers, the school director, the educational staff, school officials and students parents. The methodological procedures used were based on a qualitative approach; we collected data through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Cultural-Historical Theory served as the theoretical foundation for our work; therefore, we believe that cultural development results from appropriations and objectifications made by individuals from their social relations throughout life. Cultural development is a condition for individuals humanization. The data analyzed stated that the school and the family contribute to children s cultural development; however, this contribution was not so intentional or systematic. The social function of Primary School expressed by different participants in the survey was very similar and emphasized the role of school in children s preparation for Intermediate school (6-13 years old), and in the development of values and rules for living together. We realized that playing was appreciated both by children and adults, but children valued this activity by itself while adults often considered playing as a resource for learning school subjects, or simply as a way of occupying child s free time. Children s and adult s access to culture was restricted and limited, particularly to television, and that impoverished their possibilities of cultural development. Artistic and cultural activities were interpreted as didactical and pedagogical resources, and were rarely associated with leisure, fun, broadening of worldview, and thus, with cultural development. We hope, with the analysis undertaken in this research, to contribute to the thinking on the democratic and revolutionary dimension of the school in what concerns its role as an institution that should offer opportunities of access to increasingly sophisticated knowledge and experience, so that all children perform appropriations and objectifications that could result in their growing and continuous cultural development aimed at building a fairer and more equitable society.