Resumo

DA R. BECKER, Fernanda. Early Childhood Education in Brazil: The obstacles to a successful experience. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2007, vol.5, n.2, pp.515-537. ISSN 1692-715X.

Early Childhood Education is a right recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2005). However, this right has been neglected, as many countries do not have an official program for the early years or, in case of having the program, it is not effective. In 1996, the Brazilian government introduced a policy to integrate the administrative responsibility for nursery schools for 0-3 year-olds and preschools for 4-6 year-olds into the educational sector, which was a first step towards the expansion of Early Childhood Education provision. Ten years later, there is a lack of public establishments, and the local governments do not give high priority to this stage of education in their spending. This paper is aimed at the Brazilian experience in Early Childhood Education in an effort to identify the remaining obstacles to accomplish the established goals. The empirical analysis focuses on the differences among regions and the stages of Early Childhood Education expansion, in order to measure the gap between the number of enrolments and the demand for vacancies. It evaluated official data, like the number of establishments and enrolments from 1996 to 2006. The appraisal points out some obstacles that local governments should overcome in order to improve the provision and the quality of Early Childhood Education.

Palavras-chave : Early childhood education; Decentralization; Public policies; Brazil.

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