Abstract

PINEDA, Nisme et al. Perspective of Rights in University Programs Skilling Teachers for the Child’s Early Age. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2009, vol.7, n.2, pp.621-636. ISSN 1692-715X.

In the last decades, major importance has been assigned both to the role of early child development in human development and to the contexts where this development takes place as well as to attention in early childhood. This led to think about the need to understand how teachers who are going to be in charge of child care in their early years are being skilled. It is also of great importance to recognize the increasing trend of registering both boys and girls in the various institutional offers, day by day at an earlier age, and to recognize the need to promote and guarantee the consideration of children’s rights. This research qualitatively characterized the syllabi of 34 Colombian undergraduate university programs that aim at skilling teachers to work with both boys and girls in their early age. The study included the analysis of documents, interviews with program coordinators and focus groups with senior students and undergraduates. The results show that very few programs make the perspective of children’s rights explicit in their curricula. Besides, the traditional educational perspectives on early training and the role of the environment where the children are raised prevail. The methodology used in the teacher training programs generally consider students as active subjects and, accordingly, implement active pedagogical and evaluation strategies. There is a constant updating of programs that aims at improving academic quality, although the status of childhood in the country is not one of its referents.

Keywords : early childhood; early education; rights approach; child’s rights; teacher skilling; curriculum.

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