WHO IS THE REPORT FOR? SOME PROBLEMS IN EARLY EARLY EDUCATION
Nombre: ROSSANA DIAS OLIVEIRA
Fecha de publicación: 09/06/2025
Junta de examinadores:
Nombre |
Rol |
|---|---|
| JAIR RONCHI FILHO | Presidente |
| VASTI GONÇALVES DE PAULA | Examinador Externo |
| VITOR GOMES | Examinador Interno |
Resumen: This study addresses the growing number of clinical diagnoses in early childhood and the medicalizing practices that accompany them, reflecting on their impact on the production of diagnoses within the daily dynamics of school environments. The research seeks to understand whom these medical reports serve, what it means to be a child in Early Childhood Education, and which historical and social factors underpin the process of medicalization from the earliest stages of life.The methodology combines cartographic research—acknowledging that the investigative process affects both the researcher and the participants—with Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, focusing on the power-knowledge relations that permeate medical and educational discourses. Foucault (1987) is invoked to discuss the notion of “docility of bodies,” frequently associated with medicated bodies. Additionally, the study engages with the works of Illich (1975), Caliman (2016), and Moysés and Collares (1996), among others, who critically examine the rise of disorders and the pathologization of childhood. The empirical field of the research consists of the Municipal Centers for Early Childhood Education (CMEIs) operated by the Municipality of Vitória, which also represent my current professional setting as a public servant. At present, I work as a pedagogical advisor in the Coordination of Special Education at the Municipal Department of Education of Vitória, although my academic and professional background is deeply rooted in Early Childhood Education.As part of the requirements of the professional master’s program, an educational product was developed in the form of an interactive infographic, aiming to challenge the centrality of medical reports in processes involving early childhood. The proposal seeks to foster a less medicalized perspective, highlighting play as a practice with the potential to demedicalize and depathologize. The study concludes by underscoring the urgency of adopting a critical stance toward the medicalization of childhood, advocating for alternatives that honor the uniqueness and subjectivity of each child.
