EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CURRICULUM: BETWEEN EMANCIPATORY EDUCATION AND THE PRESSURES OF NEOLIBERAL LOGIC

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the competing conceptual frameworks underlying Early Childhood Education curricula in Brazil, positioning the curriculum as a political arena of tension between proposals for emancipatory education and pressures exerted by neoliberal educational reforms. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study is based on a review of literature and official documents—drawing on recent academic research regarding curriculum, childhood, and educational policy, and engaging with key documents such as the National Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (DCNEI) and the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC). The analysis reveals that, while a legal framework exists recognizing the child as a rights-bearing subject and advocating for a curriculum grounded in interaction and play, there is a simultaneous, growing influence of a global agenda. Driven by international organizations and private-sector partnerships, this agenda pushes for standardized curricula focused on competency development and outcome measurement. Although the BNCC incorporates principles from the DCNEI, it presents contradictions by organizing knowledge into age-specific learning objectives—an approach that risks fostering a logic of formal schooling and academic preparation. The study concludes that, amidst these tensions, it is crucial to resist homogenizing forces and champion a "living curriculum"—one constructed through daily school life, attentive listening to children, and the valuing of teacher agency—as a means to guarantee the right to an early childhood education that is public, democratic, and socially grounded.