Early childhood education curriculum in dispute

reforms, international influences, and the challenges for children’s emancipatory development

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the early childhood education curriculum in Brazil as a political space, permeated by disputes of interest, marked by recent reforms, and by the growing neoliberal influence. The research adopts a qualitative approach of a theoretical-bibliographical nature, grounded in Critical Theory, and is carried out in two stages: the first consists of theoretical-bibliographical research, followed by a complementary stage of literature review based on the descriptors curricular reform in early childhood education and curriculum in early childhood education, considering the time frame from 2015 to 2025. The discussion examines how different conceptions of education for childhood are reflected in the formulation of curricular policies, often strained by neoliberal rationalities and global economic pressures, resulting in the distancing of the curriculum from local realities and reducing its formative and emancipatory dimensions, which may contribute to processes of semi-formation. Therefore, understanding the curriculum as a territory of disputes is essential to ensure the valorization of childhood and the realization of quality public education.