Artesão do desejo: a prática educativa na primeira infância

Abstract

The present research aims to reflect upon the teachers role on small children, from four months to three years old, in institutions of Childhood Education. The psychoanalytic theory was used in order to accomplish this reflection. The theoretical route starts from the process of subjective constitution, highlighting how the symbolic impressions inscribed by the Other in the childs body, in the early days of his life, initiate the subjects trajectory on the path of desire. It is understood that the Other who circumscribe the life of babies and small children is currently pluralized, that is, it is not only constituted of parental figures as it also encompasses, among others, the educators of childhood institutions. The work of the teacher with babies and small children in institutions is considered not to be restricted to the application of techniques or to the execution of prescribed curricula, neither does it consist in solely taking children as a body to be washed, fed and protected. He participates in the early stages of the structuring process of the child, offering support to the work of subjectivation that is performed by the parents. The references and guidelines for childhood education present themselves as a way to regulate and discipline the performance of professionals in this area, so that a comprehensive development is assured to the child. However, this research supports the hypothesis that the role of the educator is to singularize each child instead of subscribing to a universal pattern.