Políticas de educação infantil na região da Associação dos Municípios do Alto Uruguai (AMAU): o acesso das crianças de zero a 3 anos

Abstract

This work is a dissertation project submitted for qualification in the Strictu Sensu Professional Master’s Graduate Program in Education at UFFS - Campus Erechim, in the Research Line Pedagogical Processes, Policies and Educational Management. The theme of this dissertation is focused on Public Policies for Early Childhood Education. The great challenge of the municipalities is to meet all the existing demand of children from 0 to 3 years old. Based on this set of elements, the problem of the current investigation emerges: how the municipalities of the region of the Associação dos Municípios do Alto Uruguai, (AMAU), in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, have met the existing need for vacancies in Early Childhood Education. In this perspective, in order to contribute to the field of research focused on the specificities that involve the theme, we define as objective to analyze the main implications and challenges of the municipalities that make up the region of AMAU with regard to ensuring the offer of vacancies in Early Childhood Education.To deepen studies on the current legislation and recognize the importance of public policies for the fulfillment of citizens' rights, in particular the access to education, more specifically to Early Childhood Education from zero to three years old. As for its nature, this research is classified as quantitative and qualitative research. The investigation will be developed in stages. The first concerns the bibliographical survey on the theme and the obtaining of literature that discusses public policies and early childhood education. In the second stage, a questionnaire involving the Departments of Education of the 32 municipalities of the region of AMAU will be carried out to answer the following questions: How are municipalities in the Alto Uruguai region complying with their legal responsibilities regarding early childhood education? What are the main difficulties and what are the successful practices identified by the municipalities? These data will be used to identify and select the actions of the municipalities that have shown successful practices with regard to meeting the demand for vacancies for children from zero to three years old in Early Childhood Education Schools. In order to carry out the research, a questionnaire in the Google Forms model was chosen and forwarded to the participants' electronic addresses, which will be made available to the secretaries of education of the municipalities that are part of the region of AMAU. The results of this research will be achieved through tabulation and interpretation based on Bardin's theory (1997). These data will help to understand whether the hypotheses regarding the research were correct. To interpret the data, electronic tabulation will be used. For data analysis, the hypothetical-deductive method and Laurence Bardim's content analysis were used with three purposes: to establish understanding of the collected data, to select the municipalities with successful experiences, and to expand the knowledge about the subject researched. Conclusion will emerge from the analysis and interpretation of the data, with the intention of listing the successful proposals as a possibility of guaranteeing the expansion of services in Early Childhood Education. The result will be shared with the municipalities that meet this stage of Early Childhood Education.