“Does preschool make a difference?” Educational policies in early childhood education and pedagogical practices

Abstract

The identification of sociopedagogical practices tendentially reproductive of schooling forms, and the presence of collection curricula and formal modes of pedagogical transmission emphasizing literacy, numeracy and science point to the reconfiguration of Early Childhood Education as a context of schoolarisation and of early processes of children becoming pupils and as a socio-educational prevention strategy against school failure. From an interdisciplinary matrix between Sociology of Childhood, Sociology of Education and Educational Sciences it is analysed the trend of the recent Early Childhood Education political changes in international and national contexts, back to the 90s, and some of its effects on pedagogical practices. The reconstitution of this path rests on the critical analysis of official documents, namely the new Early Childhood Curriculum Guidelines (2016), and observations conducted in Portuguese kindergartens, public and private, between 2015 and 2017.