ARTIGO ORIGINAL
BERNARDI, Iara [1], LIMA, Maria José Rocha [2]
BERNARDI, Iara. LIMA, Maria José Rocha. Early childhood: The new government agenda. Revista Científica Multidisciplinar Núcleo do Conhecimento. Year 05, Ed. 09, Vol. 05, pp. 155-172. September 2020. ISSN: 2448-0959, Access link: https://www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/education/government-agenda, DOI: 10.32749/nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/education/government-agenda
SUMMARY
Institutional care for young children, throughout the history of the world, Latin America and Brazil, presented several conceptions about their function. Most of these institutions were intended to serve only poor children. However, it is very recent the establishment of a national policy for Early Childhood, as a pedagogical, social investment, in maternal and child health, economic and educational, which considers children as subjects of rights and citizens in the process of development. Thus, this article intends to reconstitute the trajectory of the new legislation on Early Childhood, which obliges managers and professionals of education, social assistance, health, psychology, psychiatry throughout the country to adapt their activities to the norms established by law. That said, this study was based on scientific evidence; pedagogical and legal arguments disseminated in Brazil in the last three decades, especially since the Citizen Constitution of 1988, which promoted the evolution of early childhood legislation. In which it was possible to observe that only in 2006, with the creation of FUNDEB, funding for early childhood education was established; in 2016, the Legal Framework of Early Childhood was sanctioned. And in 2020, for the first time in history, childhood was mentioned and included in Annexes of thirteen Laws of the Multiannual Plans of Brazilian federated entities, to take effect from 2021 to 2023.
Key Words: Education, child development, Early Childhood Legislation, legal framework, Multiannual Plans.
1. INTRODUCTION
This article aims to present part of the trajectory of the construction of the new legal system on early childhood education, especially the Legal Framework of Early Childhood, analyzing some philosophical, pedagogical, scientific, legal, economic arguments and the lessons learned from the experiences of other countries that justified them.
This study is important because it aims to disseminate information about the relevance of Early Childhood, which constitutes a new governmental agenda; informs about the new legislation (2016) that regulates it, warning managers, parliamentarians, professionals in the areas of education, health and social assistance about the obligation to comply with the new law, so that the management activities are appropriate to the established standards.
The article was divided into four parts: In the first part, an approximation of the theme was made, seeking to return to the pedagogical question, more crucial: why early childhood education? To answer it, we adopted the conception of “education at an early age” found in the work Sobre a Pedagogy, a 1803 work by the German philosopher Imannuel Kant[3].
In part two, the scientific evidence that justifies the adoption of policies for Early Childhood is presented. Among the several authors consulted for the preparation of the research are the English Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott(1994); professors at Harvard University’s Center for Child Development: Shonkoff (2016); in the studies of James Heckman Nobel Prize in Economics (2017); Laurista (2005), among others. We also consulted studies by the American National Council for the Scientific Development of Children in Development (2013).
All these authors present the scientific evidence, from recent decades, on child development from pregnancy to six years, in the areas of maternal health – children; neuroscience, psychology, child psychiatry, child psychoanalysis and economics.
Part three of the article discusses the trajectory of early childhood education legislation, particularly about the history and processing of the Legal Framework and the participation of Vital Didonet from the studies of Prado and Hai (2019); Bernardi and Rocha Lima (2016).
These authors offered subsidies for understanding the institutional trajectory and construction of the Legal Framework, since they participated in the Special Committee that appreciated Bill No. 6,998/2013, authored by Mr Osmar signed by other Members of the Parliamentary Front of Early Childhood, which gave rise to the Legal Framework of Early Childhood.
Finally, we highlight the impacts of this policy of prioritization of early childhood and its repercussions on government agendas, especially in the Multiannual Plans of the 27 entities of the Brazilian federation.
2. WHY EDUCATE FROM THE TENDEREST AGE, IN KANT?
In the work On Pedagogy (1803) the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, gathering the famous lessons, taught between 1776 and 1784, at the University of Könisberg in Germany, in the introduction, states that “man is the only creature that needs to be educated”. And he continues his questions by saying that “man cannot become a true man but by education, he is what education makes him” (KANT, 1999, p.11 to 15)[4].
At the dawn of the Enlightenment, it already addressed the biological incompleteness of the human being and the proper requirements of care, care and education, which the sciences would address, much later, concluding that the human baby is the being born incomplete, demanding care and if abandoned, dies.
Kant (1803) already offered relevant and detailed contributions on the importance of Early Childhood Education, which he defined from an early age “education as care (conservation and treatment) of childhood” and education understood by him as “discipline and instruction with human formation”. (KANT, 1999, p.11)
For the philosopher, instruction, to face rudeness, which is the acquisition of the goods of culture can be acquired at any time of life. Unlike the discipline you either learn early, or you’re hopeless. For Kant, it is very difficult to discipline the human being, after he “gets used to following his own rules”. This strong tension between the desire of the individual and the expectations of society will later be addressed by Freud, in his work entitled The malaise in civilization, which is a pervasive investigation into the origins of unhappiness and on the conflicts between individual and society. (KANT, 1999)
It is impressive that the philosopher, already addressing the importance of Early Childhood for more than two centuries, in the middle of the 21st century, there is still considerable ignorance about the subject. And a few decades ago, science itself skated on the subject.
Kant states that “the human being is at the same time infant, man and disciple [5] ” advancing significantly in the field of pedagogy, making it possible to understand, mainly, the broader meaning of pedagogy, giving access to the ante room of new and recent discoveries of the sciences in the fields of pediatrics, neuroscience, child psychoanalysis and psychology on child development.
Infante, etymologically originates in Latin and means the one who does not speak; “who does not yet have the ability to speak in an intelligible way.” Thus Kant (1999) reveals the human being who differs from animals that are born with instincts, which guarantee them survival. In this respect, the human baby demands attention and care, which the philosopher calls “care (conservation and treatment)”. (our griffin). And the other animals basically need nutrition, but not greater care, since their instinct enables them from an early age to survive.
Thus, the philosopher already presented solid foundations for the construction of a revolutionary pedagogy and invited a vigorous reflection on the human condition and on the various pedagogical challenges, in each phase of development, beginning in the infant and reaching the learned and responsible man.
2.1 “MAN CANNOT BECOME A TRUE MAN BUT BY EDUCATION”
By affirming that the human being, besides being an infant “is a man”, it makes us understand that “man” is the term used to designate the one that differs from other animals, from the perspective that “man is rational and differentiates himself by intelligence”. For Kant: “Man is so naturally inclined to freedom that, after he gets used to it for a long time, he sacrifices everything to it.” (KANT, 1999, p. 13)
This would already be the exact reason, for which it is appropriate to resort very early to discipline, because otherwise “it would be very difficult to change man later”. And Kant (1999), concludes the human being accustomed to satisfy all his wills, “would follow all his whims”.
The human being is not born like animals, with instincts that predefine their behaviors, as, can observe in the Brazilian bird the João de Barro, for example, who makes his home, throughout his life, in the expected way; or like the swallows, delicately chosen by the philosopher Kant, “who only leaves the egg and still blind, know how to dispose in the nest so that the excrement so that the excrement so that the excrement so that the excrement so that the excrement fell out of the nest”, but it will be the only nest that he will make and repeat throughout life. (KANT, 2002, p.16 a 17).
Neuroscientists like Jack P. Shonkoff, an American pediatrician, currently professor of child health and development Julius B. Richmond FAMRI at Harvard T.H., concluded in his research that: since pregnancy and early childhood, the environments in which the child lives, learns and the quality of their relationships with adults have a high impact on their cognitive, emotional and social development. (SHONKOFF, 2016).
3. MAN IS WHAT EDUCATION MAKES OF HIM
The philosopher did not stop at the need for early childhood education to meet the needs of physical survival, but addressed one of the most crucial issues that is education, from an early age, to meet the lack of genetic inscription for forms of seduction, to control instinctive impulses, to deal with emotions, to communicate and to socialize.
The philosopher Kant states that “by discipline the human being transforms animality into humanity, becoming people without instincts”, needing his own reason, to become singular; and by social interaction will reach the natural qualities that belong to humanity. (KANT, 1999, p.12)
Thus, early childhood education is decisive to meet the dramatic needs, the symbolic elaborations, since the human being is not born with inscriptions for all pre-fixed behaviors, such as black palancas, antelopes that live in the forests of Angola, in groups, in which the head of the herd chooses the pastures, indicates paths, lurks the dangers and fights to compete for leadership. The strongest palanca, instead of destroying the weaker palanca, puts the paw on the neck of the other, and the fight ends. (BERNARDI e ROCHA, 2016). In this same introductory text on Pedagogy, Kant (1999) says: Education forms the character and ability to master some passions and some inclinations. “In addition to developing the natural dispositions existing in the human being, to live in society and love the good.” (IDEM, p.11)
For him, “the human species is obliged to extract from itself little by little, with its own strengths, all the natural qualities that belong to humanity.” In addition to being an infant, man needs to develop his own reason, is not armed with instincts, he needs to “form for himself the project of his conduct”. And its elaboration continues: “discipline prevents man from deviating from his destiny, from deviating from humanity, through his animal inclinations”. Discipline, according to the philosopher, “must contain man, so that he does not throw himself into danger as a ferocious animal, or as a fool.” (IDEM, 1999, p.12)
In 2017, scientist James Heckman, Nobel Prize in Economics, interviewed by Veja Magazine[6] in 2000, presented results of his studies that reveal: “abilities are not defined at birth or are only genetically determined, but are affected by the investment of parents in their children.”
In Brazil, all emphasis is placed on public policies for elementary school, but the scientist warns that: “there is still a lot of ignorance about Early Childhood”. And he goes on to state that an appropriate measure of disadvantage is more related to the lack of quality of care offered by parents, bonding, consistency and supervision, than family income alone. (HECKMAN, 2017)
For Heckman, the price of neglect, abandonment and abuse in Early Childhood is sky-high. “Countries that do not invest in early childhood have higher crime rates, higher rates of teenage pregnancy and high school dropout.”
4. THE DISCIPLINE FROM THE TENDEREST AGE, AGAINST SAVAGERY
For the philosopher Kant, the human being needs to be a disciple, to have discipline from an early age, against savagery, because it goes against instinctive impulses. “Discipline is the remedy, bitter, but decisive against savagery and has to be taught from an early age”, considering the human being’s unrestrained desire for freedom, according to the author. And education from an early age, “if we do not discipline it from an early age it will be very difficult to change man” (KANT, 1999, p. 20).
For Kant (1999), among human discoveries there are two difficult and are: the art of governing men and the art of uplifting them. Kant left a relevant legacy on philosophical, ethical and moral conduct, contributing in a unique way to the establishment of education in modern society. The reference to his work is of great relevance to highlight and consolidate the struggles for social policies and practices in Early Childhood.
Well according to the philosopher, for the sake of civilization, the individual is oppressed, yes, in his drive and lives in malaise. And education has exactly as one of the most, if not the most important role of disciplining the individual for mature social coexistence, therefore healthy and democratic.
It is concluded that man cannot become a true man but by education, for he is what education makes of him.
Kant’s ideas influenced philosophical and pedagogical conceptions in the 18th centuries and remain current. These are ideas that have been confirmed by renowned scholars, in the most diverse areas of science such as: Neuroscientists, pedagogues, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts economists and other social scientists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As in the scientific evidence of the last few decades.
4.1 SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE REVEALS THAT EARLY CHILDHOOD DECIDES THE FUTURE
In the last fifty years, more than ten thousand studies have been published only in the scientific literature in English, evaluating programs between the period from prenatal care to preschool. And these studies conclude by the decisive importance of early childhood care, care and education, according to Jack Shonkoff (2016)[7].
For scholars the beginning is even before birth, during pregnancy. There are many factors that influence the development of the baby: the health of the mother, whether she has good nutrition, whether she has a good pregnancy or if she is sick, or outraged, if she is a user of alcohol, cocaine, etc.
In this phase of the very first childhood, care, attention, embrace and “attachment” are essential for the constitution of being, for being and continuing to be, as pediatricians, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts teach.
The recent discoveries of neuroscience, psychology, psychoanalysis, pediatrics and economics irrefutably justify the need for attention, care and early childhood education (0 to 6 years); and in the very first childhood, as the scholars who warn for the first thousand days of life (approx. 270 days of gestation + 365 days x 2 years), the “very first childhood”, as especially important.
The English pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott (1896-1971), in addition to coining the expression “good enough mother”, understood that “the good enough mother is the one that allows the baby the illusion of breast creation.” And in this way, the baby experiences that of “primary omnipotence”, which is the basis of creative making. The psychoanalyst also has the conception of “creative perception of reality, as an experience of the self, the singular nucleus of each individual” (WINNICOOT, 1994, p.18).
It creates a set of expressions that were not common to psychoanalysis, such as “the holding” that can be understood as “support” and a set of actions practiced by the mother, aiming to offer support to her baby. In this concept, the acts of breastfeeding are included, with dedication to the moment; the look at the baby and sustain his gaze; the firmness with which it sustains it; the affection and satisfaction actions of the mother and baby. From this holding company, confidence in the environment, the other and life will depend (WINNICOOT, 1994)
With current technological resources one can observe the evolution of the human baby in an increasingly precise way. Neuroscience studies report that the human baby’s brain, anywhere in the world, has 100 billion neurons, which are formed before the 20th week of gestation.
The weight of the newborn’s brain averages 330 grams. The baby’s brain is born ready, but unfinished. And who’s going to end this brain is genetic burden, which the baby has and the environment he’s going to find. Also according to pediatrician Laurista Corrêa (2005), each neuron performs from 1 (one) thousand to 10,000 synapses, thus connecting with other neurons. Strictly speaking, “in every inch of cortex there will be 100,000 neurons and a billion synapses.” At the age of three, the human baby’s brain already weighs 1,100 grams and in adults 1,400 grams, according to the pediatrician. (2005, p.13)
In Neuroscience this phenomenon is called plasticity and refers to the possibility of flexibility and adaptability of the brain, to reconfigure itself to face a new challenge, according to scientist Jack Shonkoff. And though, he considers it not good news from biology: “the ability to change your circuits diminishes with age.” For Shonkoff, “Brain plasticity is at optimal levels at birth and early childhood” and the scientist illustrates: “Children have so many synapses that their brain can grow in all directions. You can speak any language in the world. With age it gets harder and harder.” (SHONKOFF, 2016, p.97)
In the first year of life, it is observed that it is a phase of intense learning of the baby and its experiences, safety, confidence in the favorable conditions of the environment are as or more relevant than genetic characteristics. From 3 to 5 years there is a great escalation in dexterities, especially in the ability to concentrate, but this development requires stimuli. (SHONKOFF, 2016)
Also for James Heckman who was the first director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Chicago (2017), he says: Early Childhood is very important, a phase of frantic development, in which the first sensations and experiences in life are marked and prepare the basis on which will be built the “knowledge and emotions”. The success or failure of a human being depends, to some extent, on the baby’s first experiences. (HECKMAN, 2017)
Numerous researches have revealed that social differences, focus ability is based not on genetics, but on experience, and how predictable the environment is. The fastest period of development of these skills is between 3 and 5 years and there is no development automatically.
In Brazil, unfortunately educational attention was and is still very focused on elementary school, at the age of six, thus failing to take advantage of the best period of development and more fruitful brain possibilities.
Contrary to all scientific evidence, in Brazil, literacy is postponed to eight years, justifying that the initiation process to read and write for young children (five and six years) is to steal their childhood. This is only true for children from the popular classes, because those from the middle and upper classes if they are not literate at six years are referred to the psychopedagogue, speech therapist, psychologist, neurologist and even psychiatrist.
The great positive impact in the USA, for example, is the result of intersectoral programs that combine health care; social assistance to poor families; care in day care centers and preschools. All articulated organs to dispense attention and care to the child not only in material, economic, but educational issues.
Early childhood scholars have been highlighting the strength of the environment, the family and social life in the development and trajectory of a child’s life. For this reason, one child stimulated early will be at an advantage over another who has not received such incentives. Therefore early Childhood is a window of opportunities and risks.
Period 0 to 6, particularly a baby’s 1,000 days of life, is a time of intense brain augmentation and intense sinatic connections. These brain phenomena favor learning. Although it is not impossible to learn at other stages of life. Unlike what we know in common sense: “that old parrot does not learn to speak”, neuroscientists find that there are periods of life that are more fertile for the acquisition of certain knowledge. For example, the sooner the better for a child’s literacy and for learning other languages. In the 15 to 25 year phase there is another peak of skills development, but these are differentiated, at a higher level: solve problems, control impulses, make plans, but these skills will depend, in some way, those developed in Early Childhood, where everything begins.
5. BRIEF HISTORY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD LEGISLATION
In his work the Social History of the Child and the Family Philipe Ariès (1981) records that the concept of childhood was formed in a social construction outlined at the end of the seventeenth century and consolidated at the end of the eighteenth century. Closer to the 18th century, in some way, assumptions were consolidated that “the first years of life are essential in a child’s life so that they have, in the future, quality of life”. For Ariés, there was an indifference of the school to early childhood education. (ARIÉS, 2006, p.124 and 125)
In Brazil, since the launch of the Manifesto of the Pioneers of New Education in 1932, educators and intellectuals, including Anísio Teixeira, have defended early childhood education, but this was only effective in the Federal Constitution of 1988 – CF/88 (LIMA, 2006, p.20).
Between 1974 and 1990, the first actions, registered, on Pre-School Education at the Ministry of Education began, according to Prado and Hai (2019, p.318), who studied Vital Didonet’s experience and management trajectory with the Ministry of Education (1974-1990): building paths for brazilian early childhood education.
In an article published, as part of the doctoral research, the Prado and Hai (2019, p.320) raised documents on Preschool Education, some in the public domain such as: “Preliminary Diagnosis of Preschool Education” of 1975; the collection “Preschool attendance”, volumes 1 and 2 of 1977; the document “Pre-school education: a new national perspective”, from 1975; “Sectoral Plans” of 1976 and 1980; “Legislation and Norms of Preschool Education” of 1979, among others. (PRADO and HAI, 2019, p.321)
Documents were also collected, never analyzed, but which are contained in the archives of the former Coepre, currently called the Coordination of Early Childhood Education (Coedi) within the Ministry of Education (MEC), such as:
The “Report 74” (the only one in the public domain) and the documents: “THE DEF and Pre-School Education” of 1979; “The Child in the Constituent and Government Plans: synthesis document” (1986); the “History of the Child and Constituent Campaign” (1988); Reports of National and Regional Meetings on the “Municipal Program of Pre-School Education” (between 1986 and 1989); “Reports” of internal circulation; Action Plans and/or Political-Pedagogical Guidelines between 1986 and 1989; which show some strategies and actions of Coepre, with regard to the demands of the MEC and the needs of the said coordination. (PRADO and HAI, 2019)
According to the authors, the first action in the area of preschool education, within the scope of the MEC, originated in the Federal Council of Education (CFE) by Indication No. 45/1974, the counselor Eurides Brito da Silva. And later, the CFE offered Opinion No. 2,018/74, from councillor Paulo Nathanael Pereira de Souza. (Brazil, 1979). (PRADO and HAI, 2019)
It is very important to highlight that Coepre’s discourse aimed to meet a demand of the MEC, which was to support the need for preschool education, to face the problems of high repetition rates and dropout at the first degree level (appointment at the time of the current Elementary School).
Since the early 1980s, some academics influenced and contributed to the preparation of documents in COPRE / MEC as: Alceu Ravanello Ferrari, Fúlvia Rosemberg, Maria Machado Malta Campos, Sonia Kramer, among others. (IDEM, 2019, p.322)
These documents lay the foundations for the future of preschool education, still under the grounds that this was a social policy, which favored the success of First Grade Education – considered a priority for public education policy.
They also allied themselves with this process, especially during international bodies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), offering contributions from experiences in other countries and in international research.
Thus, the historical conditions were created to meet the premence of the MEC and include the education of young children, within the federal government. For this, two events were founding: “National Child Campaign” and “Constituent and Municipal Program of Preschool Education”, since they created convergences in the efforts to achieve the goal of advancing the education of young children.
It is registered on the website of the House of Representatives, entitled Plenarinho, that the Constitution of 1988 (CF/88) had an important participation of children.
The proposal “Child, national priority”, on the rights of children in the Constituent Assembly, was prepared by specialists and mobilized people throughout the country, and received more than 1.4 million signatures from children and adolescents. In Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso, they even made mini constituent assemblies, sending the ideas to parliamentarians. The Minicarta de Minas, dated 1987, brought together a series of innovative proposals, such as “Free and compulsory education from the age of 4, including school supplies and food” and the “Free pass on public transport to students.
In the 1988 Constitution, the children’s population had guarantees set out in Articles 227 and 228, years later expanded with the Statute of children and adolescents. In 1993, the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Children and Adolescents was created in the National Congress, which fulfilled a relevant role in the drafting of the Basic Guidelines of Education (LDB) Law in 1996, ensuring early childhood education as the first stage of basic education.
In 2006, Brazilian children gained recognition in the law of law and in fact, with the greatest achievement in the history of Brazilian childhood, with the approval of Constitutional Amendment No. 53 of December 19, 2006, which created the Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and The Valorization of Education Professionals (FUNDEB) in its art. 7. , item XXV, establishes free care for children and dependents from birth to five years of age in day care centers and preschools and in Art. 208, item IV, ensuring the provision of early childhood education, in daycare and preschool, to children up to 5 (five) years of age, offer that has become mandatory for children aged 4 and 5 years, from 2016. (BERNARDI and ROCHA, 2016, p.163)
In 2007, in the Federal Senate, the Early Childhood Commission was made official, which held, for eleven years, public hearings on Early Childhood, under the technical coordination of Lisle Lucena. Having started it with the institution of the National Week for the Prevention of Violence in Early Childhood, created by Bill No. 340 of 2005, authored by Senator Pedro Simon. And he published a collection of the annals constituting a precious material for researchers.
And in 2009, with the approval of Constitutional Amendment No. 59/2009, which made the provision of basic education mandatory for all Brazilians. The CF came into force with the following changes: “Art. 208. I – compulsory and free basic education of the four (four) to 17 (seventeen) years of age” (BERNARDI and ROCHA, 2016, p.163). In 2010, the National Early Childhood Network (RNPI) was created, which obtained the approval by CONANDA of the First National Plan for Early Childhood (PNPI)[8] (IDEM, 2016).
The National Education Plan – PNE-, created by Law No. 13,005/2014, which established the guidelines, goals and strategies for educational policy for the next ten years. The PNE brings in the first goal the care of Early Childhood, with the expansion of care in daycare centers; mandatory care from 4 to 5 years; and universalization of elementary school, from the age of six.
Also in 2014, the RNPI started the movement for the approval of Bill No. 6,998/2013, authored by Mr Osmar signed by other Members of the Parliamentary Front for Early Childhood, which amends Article 1 and inserts provisions on Early Childhood in Law No. 8,069 of July 13, 1990, which provides for the Statute of the Child and Adolescent, – Law No. 8,069, of 1990 – on Decree Law No. 3,689 of October 3, 1941 – Code of Criminal Procedure; the Consolidation of Labor Laws – CLT, approved by Decree-Law No. 5,452, of May 1, 1943; Law No. 11,770 of September 9, 2008, and Law No. 12,662 of June 5, 2012.
In 2016, Law No. 13,257 of the “Legal Framework of Early Childhood” is created. One of the most advanced laws in the world, which for its elaboration brought together entities and had as consultants scientists, doctors and psychologists in partnerships with the universities of Harvard, USP, Unicamp and PUC-RS.
In 2020, for the first time in history, the Joint Committee on Plans, Public Budgets and Oversight of the National Congress presented a Preliminary Opinion to the Bill of the Multiannual Plan 2020-2023, highlighting the 5024 Program for Integral Early Childhood Care, with the goal of expanding the care of children (from pregnancy to six years) of the current 357,000 beneficiaries to 3 million by the end of 2023″. (LIMA, 2020).
5.1 CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN MULTI-YEAR PLANS
The recent discoveries of science as neuroscience; molecular biology and genomic and hypergenetic biology; psychoanalysis, psychology have been influencing the understanding of the importance of the early years of childhood; and their impacts on children’s learning, behaviour and physical and mental health.
The human baby (the human being) is biologically structured to learn. This being depends entirely on learning to live; depends on the other for everything and if abandoned in the first hours of life will die, so education must be compared to the right to life. (BERNARDI and ROCHA, 2016)
Not wanting to diminish other social rights, it is only desired to emphasize that all these rights would not be realised if it were not for education.
The experiences of international programs reveal the powerful role of the family, and this knowledge has been promoting great synergy in the sectors of education, social assistance, psychology, medical sciences, in particular neuroscience to include Early Childhood in the agenda of governments.
It is observed that the legal framework, scientific knowledge and arguments about the premence of protecting children, adolescents and Early Childhood have not yet corresponded to the allocations of budgetary resources in the Multiannual Plans (PPAs).
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
In five decades of application and evaluation of social and educational programs for early childhood, according to Jack P. Shonkoff Director of Harvard University’s Center for Child Development has accumulated evidence, which supports intervention strategies that can improve the life and future expectations of children born in contexts of vulnerabilities.
In Brazil, it should be noted that advances in Public Policies for Early Childhood are very relevant. An advanced legal framework and major Government Programs were built, such as: The Affectionate Brazil Program of the Federal Government, created by Law No. 570 of May 14, 2012. The Happy Child Program, the latter intends to serve 3 million young children in the coming years. The results are still incipient, only in 2016, the Legal Framework of Early Childhood was approved. And when the PPA’s 2016 -2019 was drawn up, the theme of Early Childhood was not yet included in the government agendas.
The Legislative Consulting of Budget and Financial Supervision of the Chamber of Deputies in Technical Study No. 20/2020 that researched in the laws, documents, on the sites of state governments, on the explicit references to children, adolescents and Early Childhood in the PPA’s 2016-2019 and 2020-2023, found that only two units of the Federation registered.
Early Childhood, according to the Legislative Consultant of the Chamber of Deputies Júlia Marinho Rodrigues, of the Thematic Area XVI – Human Rights, Women and Family, is a very recent public policy. Possibly not mentioned for this, even in the PPA’s annexes from 2016 to 2019. Only the Federal District made the Annexes appear.
As for the inclusion of the terms children and adolescents in the Multiannual Plans 2020 to 2023, it should be emphasized that three states included them in the body of the law, that is, they mentioned them explicitly.
In relation to Early Childhood, in the 27 PPA’s analyzed, to take effect from 2020 to 2023, only in Alagoas there was mention of Early Childhood as a priority in the body of the law.
There was a significant increase in records on Early Childhood in the PPA’s Annexes from 2020 to 2023. Of the 27 PPA’s, 13 (thirteen) began to have explicit reference in the annexes, when in the previous period only one state plan mentioned Early Childhood.
The struggle continues for Early Childhood, in all government agendas in the country. In Brazil, to change the course of history, the country, overcoming social inequalities; school failure; juvenile delinquency is urgently changing the beginning of the life of young children, definitely including Early Childhood in the Government Agenda.
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KANT, I. (1724 a 1804). Sobre a Pedagogia. Tradução de Francisco Cock Fontanella. 2ª Edição Piracicaba: Editora Unimep, 1999, p.6 a 20.
LIMA, L.O. A construção do homem segundo Piaget: uma teoria da educação. São Paulo: Summus. 1984, p. 19.
LIMA, M. J. R. Origens dos fundos para educação: breve histórico. Fundeb: Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação: avanços na universalização da educação básica. Organização Maria José Rocha Lima e Vital Didonet. – Brasília: Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira, 2006.
PORTELLA, O. Vocabulário Etimológico Básico do Acadêmico de Letras da UFPR. Disponível em <file:///C:/Users/Lucas/Downloads/19320-68564-1-PB%20(2).pdf.>. Acesso em 13 ago 2020
PRADO, E. F. G.; HAI A. A. A experiência e trajetória de gestão de Vital Didonet junto ao Ministério da Educação (1974-1990): construindo caminhos para a educação da primeira infância brasileira. Revista de Educação PUC-Campinas, v.24, n.2, p.318-338, 2019.
RODRIGUES, J. M. Estudo Técnico nº 20/2020. Consultoria Legislativa de Orçamento e Fiscalização Financeira: Área Temática XVI – Direitos Humanos, Mulher e Família. Câmara dos Deputados. Brasília. 2020, (p.6, 7, 8, 10 e 12).
SANTOS, D. D. et. al. (Coord. Comitê Científico do Núcleo Ciência pela Infância). O Impacto do Desenvolvimento na Primeira Infância sobre a Aprendizagem. 2ª edição. São Paulo: Fundação Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal, 2015.
SHONKOFF, J. Investindo em ciência para fortalecer as bases da aprendizagem, do comportamento e da saúde ao longo da vida. Avanços do Marco Legal da Primeira Infância. Centro de Estudos e Debates Estratégicos – Cedes: Câmara dos Deputados. Brasília, p. 89 a 102.
WINNICOOT, D. W. Os Bebês e Suas Mães. Tradução: Jefferson Luiz Camargo. Martins Fontes: São Paulo. 1994, p.18, 20 e 21.
APPENDIX – FOOTNOTE REFERENCES
3. Kant was born in Prussia on April 22, 1724. In the 18th century, 1776/1777, 1783/1784 and 1786-1787, he taught them pedagogy lessons at the University of Könisberg in Germany. In 1803 his lessons were published in the work entitled “On Pedagogy”, which was translated, in Brazil, by Francisco Cock Fontanella in 1999, preserving the original characteristics of the publication, according to the Complete Works of Immanuel Kant, Tomo IX, of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, 1923 ( p.6)
4. KANT, Immanuel (1724-1804) On Pedagogy (1803) Translated by Francisco Cock Fontanella. 2nd ed. Piracicaba: Unimep Publishing House, 1999. 107 pag.
5. The infant word etymologically of latin Childhood — “age at which the child does not yet speak”. Lo lat. infantia, de in: negação + fari, fatus: falar. So infant: what you don’t say. Etymologically Man— “earth”. From lat. homo, hominis: earth, ground, where the lat. humus: humus, earth, ground. Human Being Homo Sapiens — “Wise Man.” And disciple of the Latin Discipline — “What one learns”. From lat. discipulus, of discipline, of discourine: to learn. Discipulus, “student, follower, student”, discere, “learn”, formed by Dis -, “Out”, more Capere, “catch, grab (intellectually)”. Available in Oswaldo Portela. Basic Etymological Vocabulary of the Academic of Letters Federal University of Paraná. file:///C:/Users/Lucas/Downloads/19320-68564-1-PB.pdf. Consultation held on 13/08/2020
6. James Heckman and the importance of early childhood education. https://veja.abril.com.br/revista-veja/james-heckman-nobel-desafios-primeira-infancia/
7. Data presented at Conference by Jack Shonkoff at the II International Seminar of the Legal Framework of Early Childhood, in the House of Representatives, on 07 May 2014.
8. Children in the Constituent https://plenarinho.leg.br/index.php/2018/11/as-criancas-na-constituinte
[1] Master’s degree in Biodiversity, with specialization in Executive Leadership in Early Childhood Development from Harvard University.
[2] Master and PhD in Education. President of the House of Education Anísio Teixeira.
Submitted: August, 2020.
Approved: September, 2020.
