Concepções de pais de crianças inseridas em instituição de educação infantil de classe média, sobre sua educação e cuidado

Abstract

Families are showing changes not only in terms of concepts and composition, but also in the way each member performs its role and gets along with the others. This study had the aim of analyzing the concepts of those who are responsible for children inserted in a Childish Establishment of Education belonged to the middle class, about their education and care. The study consisted in the market research of the master’s degree developed at the Postgraduate Program in Family in Contemporary Society, of the Catholic University of Salvador. For this , 125 questionnaires were distributed to families of students of an Institution of Childish Education located in middle-class neighborhood in Salvador-Bahia, where only 62 of these have been answered. This instrument was semi-structured composed by twenty-three open and closed questions and addressed features related to the care/education of children, as well as to the employees of family in these functions. The responses obtained in the open questions were treated through the content analysis, developing categories, and subsequently, were calculated the percentages of responses. For the closed questions frequencies were raised and percentages were calculated. Questions that has had only one answer for each participant and has given chance for several comparisons were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study was approved by the Ethics Committee in Research of the Catholic University of Salvador and the participants signed a Free and Evident Permission Term. The results revealed that the majority of respondents were formed by mothers (87.1%). Both parents were indicated as the main responsible for raising children (58.1%), nevertheless the mother was the one who dedicated more to the care of their children (40.3%). The main contributors of families both in education and care were: grandparents, babysitters and teachers. The definition of educating has showed quite scattered in several categories, revealing lack of unanimity about its meaning. The results indicated that they were aspects of priority in the transmission of values and limits to the child and his/her intellectual development, as well as to prepare him/her to act in society. Friendship was also relevant in the educational process. Regarding to the definition of caring, it was observed that it consisted in providing basic care - feeding, hygiene, protection - (21.5%) and giving affection (20.2%). These were the most appeared categories, as well as the existence of a physical proximity, which indicates a willingness to be more involved in daily child. It was also notorious the tendency to link care and education whereas, it was established five equal categories based on the conceptions of the participants on each of them. Both parents have appeared as the main responsible for the upbringing and care of children, however, it is evident the presence of a support network formed mainly by grandparents, nannies and Early Childhood Education Institution. Regarding to the participation of those who work together, advantages and disadvantages were raised, being the first more evident, when it was recorded that grandparents are reliable (22.2%), baby sitters help parents for a long time (35.9%) and the Early Childhood Education Institution provides the formal education (30,8%), among other categories.