Transição política e educação infantil em Feira de Santana: a democratização e seus sentidos no governo Colbert Martins (1989-1992)

Abstract

During the course of the civil-military dictatorship established in Brazil with the 1964 coup, Feira de Santana became famous as a center of resistance to the regime, with political leaders like Francisco Pinto and Colbert Martins as protagonists that marked the municipal policies management. Dialoguing with the legacy of this period, this study investigated the policies for early childhood education in the second municipal management of Colbert Martins da Silva (1989-1992) in this municipality. The study put in relief the following question: What are the regulatory features and landmarks of Colbert Martins’ government actions for early childhood education and their senses as democratization vector of public education in the 1989-1992 period in Feira de Santana? The research aimed to understand the characteristics, operative landmarks and directions of early childhood education policies in the period in question. References were constituted by analysis of three main categories: transition, early childhood education and democratization. The transition category was fundamental in helping to understand the political and educational context that included the passage of civil-military regime to the so called Brazilian political democratization, especially between 1985 and 1992. The early childhood education category mediated the understanding and analysis of the local early childhood education policy; Finally, the democratization category allowed to understand such policies in the democratization process. As for the methodological paths, we choose for a documentary type of research through a broad exploratory work in sources such as: newspaper articles, reports, statements of managers and school records. The collected data allow us to affirm that the Pre-School Education program, implemented in Colbert Martins’ government was not enough to overcome the selective nature of the access to education for children from zero to six years old, since it prioritized care for children four to six in preschools, leaving the community and philanthropic associations with the responsibility for the other children in early childhood education. Thus, the municipal government’s policy helped to establish typifications in this service of the public municipal education, with different models with regard not only to the administrative organization, but also to the purposes of education, with an assistencialist conception. Therefore, it is concluded that early childhood education policy in the studied management and period did not promote advances in a perspective of democratization.