Childhood pedagogy and educational contexts in Brazil and Italy*

Abstract In Brazil and Italy, early childhood education has become a crucial stage of education and a sociopolitical space to guarantee children’s rights, including learning and development. To this end, quality initial and ongoing teacher training aims to expand and strengthen teachers’ knowledge and practices. In addition, it is an education-oriented pedagogical work that involves analysis, reflection, and understanding of children’s physical, cognitive, economic, and socio-cultural conditions since they live in diverse, complex, and broad realities. Significant structured work between schools and universities, based on studies, debates, analyses, and formative reflections, is necessary to ensure the rights and training of teachers, aiming to connect theories and practices. To this end, the academic-scientific partnership between female professors-researchers from the schools of Education of a Brazilian university and an Italian university led them to reflect on the educational contexts and childhood pedagogy in both countries. What are the Pedagogies of Childhood like in these two countries? What differentiates them? While both countries have their own dimensions, differences, and diversities, the analyses presented here show that understanding the Pedagogy of Childhood helps us address these realities, considering the objective and subjective parameters.