Artes visuais à luz da teoria histórico-cultural: os desafios do trabalho pedagógico em um centro municipal de educação infantil de Santarém-PA

Abstract

Based on the historical-cultural theory, this investigation understands that the individual humanizes their self in the educational process, through the appropriation of the historically produced goods of humanity. In this sense, is art conceived as an extremely complex human activity that has it’s birth in the face of the individual’s need of expression and the need to come to know their feelings and emotions, as well as it enables the development of the superior capacities, such as imagination and creation. However, what has been seen in the routines of early childhood education institutions when it comes to the work with visual arts, are ready-made reproductionists activities, with aesthetic standards pre-defined by others, which often seek to work the child's motor skills only, externalizing a conception of compartmentalized human beings. Considering this reality, the present investigation aimed to understand the challenges in the educational practice of teachers to later on actualize a work with visual arts in early childhood education from the historical-cultural theory perspective and, as specific objectives, this study intends to arise significant aspects of the teachers’ educacional praxis with visual arts; to analyze how they use the institutional's infrastructure to work with visual arts; and to characterize moves in the educational practice with visual arts, based on a work inspired by the historical-cultural theory. For this accomplishment, it was done a qualification research (BRANDÃO; BORGES, 2007; LONGAREZI; SILVA, 2013; MIRANDA; RESENDE, 2006), in which an intervention took place with five qualification meetings to 12 teachers from a Municipal Center of Early Childhood Education in the municipality of Santarém-PA. Parallel with the qualification, the teachers’ work with visual arts was monitored. In this stage of the investigation, the observed challenges for the praxis with visual arts were: the provided experiences were based on biological matters, mostly emphasizing physical motor skills; which was the child concept adopted; the teachers' concern with what they consider “mess” during visual arts activities; drawings that emphasize homogenization; the scarce materials available and an impoverished routine. In addition, the institution's curriculum is based on festive calendar dates, which reinforces the searching for results. During the qualification, it was made evident that some teachers had a short artistic background, since one of them said she did not have opportunities to such experiences in her childhood or in the qualification programs to which she had access. Such results can resonate in the pedagogical proposals with visual arts for children, as well as in paradigms shift regarding the work with visual arts in early childhood education, and in the construction of activities based on a pedagogical praxis. However, it is expected that this research instigates reflections and appointments about the visual arts’ work in early childhood education in order to promote the children’s holistic development.