Municipal schools of early childhood education in the city of São Paulo from 1989 to 1992: Paulo Freire's legacy for curriculum and management

Abstract

During the administration of mayor Luiza Erundina in the city of São Paulo (1989-1992), with Paulo Freire and Mário Sérgio Cortella as secretaries of education, several initiatives were carried out to improving the quality and democratization of education, as the curriculum reorientation movement. This article analyzes how this reorientation took place in municipal schools of early childhood education (EMEIs), in the light of the principles of Freire's educational theory. The objective is to verify how and if such principles were materialized in concrete actions and what would have been their results in the early childhood education policies at municipal level. For that we analyzed official documents from the municipal education department of São Paulo (SME) and testimonials from educators who worked on the SME during the period. As a theoretical reference, works by Paulo Freire and other authors assigned with critical theories of education are used. Among the findings, we identified four Freirian principles supporting the curricular reorientation: dialogicity, collective reflection on practice, movement (transformation) and implication (subjective commitment to the process). It was verified that the curricular reorientation resulted in positive transformations for early childhood education and also for the other stages, such as the significant reduction of school failure rates in the 1st grade. Finally, it is possible to confirm the viability of the constitutional principle of democratic management to support educational management, both at the central level of systems and at the level of school units.