“A prática eu tinha, mas a teoria fui construindo”: a constituição da professora de educação infantil em uma perspectiva (auto)biográfica

Abstract

This research, linked to the Graduate Program in Education (PPGEFB) at the State University of Western Paraná (UNIOESTE), within the research line “Culture, Educational Processes, and Teacher Education” and to the Research Group “Education, Children, and Childhood” (GPECI), investigates how the Early Childhood Education teacher constitutes her teaching identity based on the author’s personal experience in a Municipal Early Childhood Education Center (CMEI) in Francisco Beltrão, Paraná. The study adopts a qualitative and (auto)biographical approach to understand the constitution of the teaching professionality of the teacher who works with babies and very young children. The general objective is to reflect, through an (auto)biographical perspective, on the constitution of the professionality of the teacher who works with babies and very young children. The specific objectives aim to: (i) present the studies produced on teaching professionality and (auto)biographical narrative inquiry as contributing elements to the analysis of teacher constitution; (ii) identify, in the history of Brazilian education, the theoretical and political elements that influence teaching professionality in Early Childhood Education, based on the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (LDB) No. 9.394/96; and (iii) share narrative experiences as a teacher of babies and very young children, reflecting on the difficulties, challenges, and propositions involved in the constitution of teaching professionality. The methodology adopted is the (auto)biographical narrative, grounded in Ricoeur (1994), Josso (2004), and Souza (2006). Organized into three chapters, the research discusses the methodological choice for (auto)biographical narratives as a tool for reflection and teacher education; the theoretical and legal foundations that sustain teaching professionality, such as the LDB No. 9.394/96; and the importance of professional ethics (Contreras, 2002; Tardif, 2002), as well as shares practical experiences, highlighting challenges and proposals to strengthen teaching practice. The reflections reveal that the identity of the Early Childhood Education teacher is constituted through lived experiences, daily relationships with children, and the memories that shape pedagogical practice. This identity is built as a continuous process, intertwining personal, affective, and professional dimensions in a movement of reflection and re-signification. From this process, it is understood that teaching professionality emerges as an expression of this identity in formation—strengthened by awareness of one’s own trajectory, by the appreciation of knowledge built in practice, and by an ethical understanding of being a teacher of babies and very young children.