Social inclusion in early childhood education and its advances in the 21st century in Brazil

Abstract

Brazilian education encompasses every form of education, whether provided to children or within the family, which is considered the first stage of basic education and contributes to the child's psychological, physical, and social development. Inclusive education, therefore, seeks to ensure that all students are effectively included within the same school context, and, despite their difficulties, differences are no longer perceived as problems but rather as diversity and plurality, thereby fostering a worldview grounded in social reality. Based on this perspective, this study adopted an exploratory approach, with a search strategy based on descriptors related to the topic through a bibliographic review, aiming to analyze social inclusion in Brazilian early childhood education. Early childhood education is essential because it creates conditions for children to discover and develop new values, customs, and feelings through social interactions and socialization processes, promoting the development of identity and autonomy. From this standpoint, it is necessary to strengthen the understanding that knowledge of the legal rights of individuals to education is not sufficient; it is equally important that families recognize the diverse capacities for learning and knowledge construction, requiring schools to fulfill their educational role for these individuals as well. Therefore, early childhood education is a cultural process in which specific methods, teaching strategies, and techniques can guide students toward developing relationships based on mutual respect, justice, solidarity, and equality, enabling children to become reflective individuals who are responsible for their actions and attitudes within society.