Educação bilíngue no contexto da educação infantil: algumas reflexões perguntativas

Abstract

This study aimed to provide an overview of bilingual education in private Early Childhood Education schools in Santa Maria. To achieve this, specific objectives included analyzing public policies that guide and support this pedagogical practice, with a focus on Early Childhood Education; identifying studies published on this teaching perspective, and finally, mapping Early Childhood Education schools in the municipality of Santa Maria that have implemented bilingual education in their curriculum. This investigation was characterized as qualitative and documentary research, considering the conducted mapping and the analysis of public policies guiding bilingual education in private Early Childhood Education schools in Santa Maria. The study discusses public policies and their definitions regarding bilingual education. It presents the results of searches for research found in the Capes database and articles in the SciELO database involving bilingual education and Early Childhood Education. Additionally, it provides a mapping of private Early Childhood Education schools in Santa Maria that have adopted bilingual proposals in their curriculum. At the end of this research, we conclude that many questions remain active in our reflections. The growth of the market for schools with bilingual proposals is a trend in the private sector, and the question arises: how is teacher training addressed for engaging in this approach? Is early bilingual education beneficial for the development of children aged 0 to 5 years? Are bilingual schools considering the learning processes before focusing on results? How can we envision bilingual education by integrating textbooks into our propositions within environments that nurture, stimulate, and propel learning? Thus, based on the reflective movements we aimed to undertake, our objective has been achieved. Consequently, these movements leave numerous possibilities for debate open, as we are convinced that many concerns still need to be studied and explored further.