“Our body is directly connected to our teaching practice”: training processes in early childhood education

Abstract

This article presents data from a postdoctoral research project that analyzed the perceptions of Early Childhood Education teachers from a municipal public school system regarding training processes mediated by experiences involving the body and movement, and their possible repercussions on educational-pedagogical action with children. Studies on the subject have shown that formative experiences involving the body and movement are scarce, both in initial teacher education programs and in continuing education. The descriptive memorials written by 49 Early Childhood Education teachers comprised the corpus of the analysis, which was examined through Grounded Theory. The emerging categories were i) connection with reality; and ii) body: presences and absences. The teachers’ narratives show the relevance of continuing education sessions that mobilize reflections and experiences that dialogue with pedagogical practices and the children’s demands. They also emphasize that, despite the processes of (re)construction, reflection and (re)signification that take place in the individual context of each teacher, what mobilizes them are the face-to-face and collective continuing education encounters. In addition, they highlight the potential of experiences involving the body and movement in training processes, since the engagement and appreciation of body-mediated experiences, are proportional to the attribution of meaning by professionals.