Early childhood education and covid-19 pandemic: actions of middle-level bureaucrats in the Baixada Fluminense

Abstract

ABSTRACT The current article is a research clipping aimed at mapping actions associated with early childhood education that were taken by ten municipalities in Baixada Fluminense during the covid-19 pandemic, based on conversations with mid-level bureaucrats accounting for managing municipal education institutions. The adopted methodology comprised virtual meetings and questionnaire application. Remote teaching was adopted by these municipalities as temporary alternative to maintain the school year running, although there were many contradictions about the adopted pedagogical approach. This option has disregarded the fact that many children lived in social vulnerability contexts and that their families were concerned with material issues associated with subsistence, as well as with poor access to technological devices and services. Results have pointed towards disarticulation among federated entities, a fact that has hindered coordinators’ actions. Thus, it is essential thinking about the place of these professionals in State’s bureaucracy.