Learning about the teaching profession in the narratives of the teaching internship in Early Childhood Education: observing, listening, and promoting children’s participation

As aprendizagens do ofício docente nas narrativas do estágio curricular na Educação Infantil: observação, escuta e promoção da participação das crianças

El aprendizaje de la profesión docente en las narrativas de las prácticas curriculares en Educación Infantil: observación, escucha y promoción de la participación infantil

Rodrigo Saballa de Carvalho

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

rsaballa@terra.com.br

Daiana Camargo

State University of Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, PR, Brazil

profdaianacamargo@gmail.com

Cassiana Magalhães

State University of Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil

cassiana@uel.br

Received on June 25, 2024

Approved on October 22, 2024

Published on April 4, 2025

ABSTRACT

Based on contributions from studies on the training of Early Childhood Education teachers, the article is the result of research that aims to discuss teaching learning in initial training through the analysis of required internship practices. The central argument is that the teaching internship is a research space in which there is learning related to the teaching profession, such as observing, listening, planning, and promoting children's participation. The investigative materiality of the research consists of a sample of undergraduate thesis in the Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education, developed at the School of Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), whose theme is teaching in the Early Childhood Education internship based on the proposition of ateliers. Methodologically, an analysis of the material content was conducted. Two analytical units were defined from examining the material: 1) observing and listening as principles of teaching with children and 2) the atelier as a planning modality and children's participation. The first analytical unit focuses on observing and listening to children as triggers for teaching pedagogical action. The second analytical unit focuses on the atelier as a planning proposal that allows children to participate. From the research, it is possible to infer the relevance of the internship in the professional constitution process by attributing meanings to the professional knowledge learned during the Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education, whose effect is the process of authorship in teaching.

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Required internship; Teacher learning.

RESUMO

Com base nas contribuições dos Estudos sobre formação de professores de Educação Infantil, o artigo é decorrente de uma pesquisa que tem como objetivo discutir as aprendizagens da docência na formação inicial, mediante a análise das práticas de estágio curricular. O argumento central é que o estágio curricular é um espaço de pesquisa no qual existem aprendizagens referentes ao ofício docente, como a observação, a escuta, o planejamento e a promoção da participação das crianças. A materialidade investigativa da pesquisa é constituída por uma amostra de Trabalhos de Conclusão do Curso de Pedagogia desenvolvidos na Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) que têm como tema a docência no estágio da Educação Infantil a partir da proposição de ateliês. Metodologicamente, foi realizada uma análise do conteúdo do material. Após o exame dos trabalhos, foram definidas duas unidades analíticas: 1) o olhar e a escuta como princípios da docência com crianças; 2) o ateliê como modalidade de planejamento e a participação das crianças. O foco de discussão da primeira unidade analítica é a observação e a escuta das crianças como deflagradoras da ação pedagógica docente. A tônica da segunda unidade analítica é o ateliê enquanto proposta de planejamento que possibilita a participação das crianças. A partir da pesquisa, é possível inferir a relevância do estágio no processo de constituição profissional através da atribuição de sentidos aos conhecimentos profissionais aprendidos durante a graduação em Pedagogia, cujo efeito é o processo de autoria docente.

Palavras-chave: Educação Infantil; Estágio curricular; Aprendizagens docentes.

RESUMEN

A partir de aportes de estudios sobre la formación docente en Educación Infantil, el artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación cuyo objetivo es discutir la enseñanza-aprendizaje en la formación inicial, mediante el análisis de las prácticas curriculares de pasantía. El argumento central sostiene que la pasantía curricular es un espacio de investigación donde se adquieren aprendizajes relacionados con la profesión docente, tales como la observación, la escucha, la planificación y la promoción de la participación infantil. La base empírica de la investigación está constituida por una muestra de Trabajos de Conclusión del Curso de Pedagogía, desarrollados en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), que tienen como tema la enseñanza en la pasantía de Educación Infantil a partir de la propuesta de talleres. Metodológicamente, se realizó un análisis de contenido del material. A partir de este análisis, se definieron dos unidades analíticas: 1) observar y escuchar a los niños como principios de la enseñanza con niños; 2) el estudio como modalidad de planificación y participación infantil. El foco de discusión de la primera unidad analítica es la observación y la escucha de los niños como desencadenantes de la acción pedagógica docente. El foco de la segunda unidad de análisis es el estudio como propuesta de planificación que permite la participación de los niños. De la investigación se infiere la relevancia de la pasantía en el proceso de constitución profesional, a través de la atribución de significados a los saberes profesionales adquiridos durante la carrera de Pedagogía, cuyo efecto es el proceso de enseñanza de la autoría.

Palabras clave: Educación Infantil; Pasantía curricular; Aprendizaje docente.

Initial considerations

The mandatory internship places the undergraduate student as the protagonist of the action (Varriale, 2023, p. 34, emphasis added).

When I realized how meaningful and exciting our daily meetings were for the children, I felt increasingly motivated to research and look for ideas to offer the little ones [...] (Corassa, 2019, p. 20, emphasis added).

The curricular teaching internship in Early Childhood Education allows students to establish themselves as teachers through continuous observation, contextual planning —with the children’s participation— and recording and reflecting on practice. The internship involves learning that configures the professional role of the pedagogue as a teacher of babies and young children in day care centers and preschools. In this direction, we agree with Ostetto and Maia (2019, p. 2) when they state that the principal purpose of the internship is "[...] immersion in the context of teaching— to research the field of professional activity, build relationships with the collective of the institution, get to know the children [and] formulate questions about the practice [...].” Ultimately, it is about learning related to teaching as a pedagogical gesture (Brailovsky, 2023) of education and care for children. In this process, observation, listening, and promoting children’s participation become principles of pedagogical practice.

Given the above, based on the contributions of studies on teacher training in Early Childhood Education (Brailovsky, 2020, 2023; Carvalho, 2021; Drumond, 2019; Santos, 2022; Schmitt, 2014), our objective is to discuss teaching learning in initial training — Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education — through the analysis of learning the teaching practice emerging from curricular internship practices in research of undergraduate thesis. The central argument is that the internship is a fruitful space and time for the student “[...] to learn to be together, interact, get closer to recognize their own ways of being, get to know and express the constitutive world of children,” (Ostetto & Maia, 2019, p. 5) colleagues, as well as families.

In this implication with the context of the school institution and all its social actors, the intern can problematize “[...] the domestic models of automated and serialized care on the one hand, and the instructional, preparatory models, on the other hand” (Guimarães, 2019, p. 97). They are, after all, learning about the specificities of teaching in Early Childhood Education in which the intern “[...] recognizes the educational intentionality of her actions, respects the otherness of childhood, positions herself as a partner of the children [...] [and promotes] qualified intentional mediations” (Silva & Carvalho, 2020, p. 508).

We emphasize that this article is part of a broader research project. In it, we have mapped the learning of teaching practices in Early Childhood Education based on the analysis of undergraduate theses focusing on reflection on teaching internship practices of the Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education, originating from federal Higher Education institutions in the five regions of the Brazilian territory.

In this article, the investigative material consists of a sample of six undergraduate theses developed in the Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education at the Faculty of Education (FACED) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) — Moreira (2018), Corassa (2019), Formigheri (2019), Prette (2020), Zanolete (2020), and Varriale (2023) — which focus on the discussion of the exercise of teaching in the internship in Early Childhood Education[1] based on the proposition of ateliers as a planning modality. We justify the choice of this set of research by the fact that the texts highlight the authorship paths of the interns in the process of learning the professional teaching profession. In other words, the texts analyzed convey not just an account of the practices experienced but also provide useful reflections about the processes of professional formation during the curricular internship.

Considering these notes, we believe it is appropriate to present the focus of discussion of each undergraduate thesis mentioned. Moreira (2018) discusses her teaching experience based on the proposal of a supra-sensory contemporary atelier that she calls autacom_petit. In turn, Corassa (2019), through the proposal of an atelier focused on teaching very young children, debates the potential of art for experimentation in Early Childhood Education. The tone of Formigheri's (2019) discussion is the defense of the atelier as a planning modality in Early Childhood Education, discussing her teaching practice in the internship —whose focus was the promotion of experiments that involved the children's bodies and movement. In turn, Prette (2020) addresses Anti-Racist Education in Early Childhood Education through a contemporary atelier aimed at bringing children closer to the work of Latin American female artists. Focusing her research on her teaching practice and the impressions of fellow interns about the proposition of ateliers in Early Childhood Education, Zanolete (2020) discusses the challenges and possibilities of teaching when meeting children. Finally, Varriale (2023) discusses reading mediation in her teaching practice in preschool based on the development of a literary atelier during her internship.

Methodologically, the material reading was conducted using content analysis (Bardin, 2011). Initially, we conducted a cursory reading of the undergraduate theses that constituted the analysis material, observing the recurrences in their narratives. In a second moment, we conducted an analytical reading focusing on the learning of the teaching practice of the interns contained in the material.

After examining the material, it was possible to define two analytical units: 1) observation and listening to children as a teaching principle, and 2) promoting children's participation in the atelier as planning. The focus of discussion in the first unit of analysis is the observation and listening of children in their daily lives as triggers for the teaching pedagogical action. The emphasis of the second analytical unit is the atelier as a planning proposal that enables children to participate and, in a related way, create less asymmetrical social relationships between adults and children.

In addition to the initial considerations, this article is organized into three sections. In the first section, we discuss the relationships between internship, teaching, and professional learning in Early Childhood Education. In the second section, our analytical emphasis is the discussion about observing and listening to children as principles of teaching with children through the analysis of the interns' narratives. In the third section, we address the atelier as a planning modality and as the promotion of children's participation in the daily journey in Early Childhood Education, based on the analysis of the interns' narratives. Finally, we share the final considerations.

Internship, teaching and professional learning in Early Childhood Education

Therefore, I believe that starting to teach is a remarkable moment for every teacher, as well as an awakening of several questions and fears; however, along with this, new experiences and ideas are created, and having the possibility of carrying out exchanges throughout this period is very important (Zanolete, 2020, p. 28, emphasis added).

Teaching needs to be movement because children are movement, it needs to be instigating because children are curious and investigative, it needs to know how to grow to be welcomed by children (Moreira, 2018, p. 93, emphasis added).

My leading role as a trainee teacher encouraged me to investigate my own practice, conducting daily analyses of what my teaching activities incorporated to the institution (Varriale, 2023, p. 34, emphasis added).

The teaching internship in initial training allows the intern to metaphorically play the role of architect and hostess (Brailovsky, 2023) in learning her profession. We consider this metaphor to be useful because, as teachers who work with children, “[...] we need to be architects, because our meetings deserve to be planned, from the perspective of practicality, accessibility, the presence of materials and possible paths” (Brailovsky, 2020, p. 88) that will be followed with the participation and involvement of children. In turn, the intern also takes on the role of hostess “[...] so that the room becomes a welcoming place characterized by care, with everything that this implies” (Brailovsky, 2020, p. 88).

In this sense, teaching in Early Childhood Education involves learning the inseparability between care and education in pedagogical practices through a relational perspective in which there is “[...] the intentional and systematic organization of various actions and relationships, ranging from care, [...] through practices that allow experiences of different natures: aesthetic, playful, expressive, corporal, etcetera” (Schmitt, 2014, p. 257-258). In this in-between role of architect and host, the intern learns to look, listen, plan, and promote children’s participation in the construction of the Early Childhood Education curriculum. Therefore, like Carvalho and Guizzo (2023, p. 8), we argue that teaching in Early Childhood Education must “[...] be relational, intentional and articulate care and education based on qualified mediation by a teacher qualified” for professional practice.

Considering the discussions presented, we understand that the teaching profession in Early Childhood Education involves learning related to the specificities of teaching young children, which articulates the technical knowledge of a professional nature learned during the undergraduate course with the demands of the children and the institution in the context of the internship. This implies that learning to teach occurs through “[...] a process of continuous construction by the student [...] who, based on his/her biography (personal experiences) and previous conceptions, [is] confronted with new experiences in the relationship with others and with the environment [...]” (Gomes, Queirós, & Batista, 2019, p. 3). From this perspective, we argue that the intern's learning as a teacher in training “[...] takes place in a real society, within a current educational policy plan [and] in complex human relationships [...]” (Placo et al., 2015, p. 37-38), which require support from the supervising teacher, sharing of teaching experiences, expansion of theoretical repertoires and openness for the student to find the possibility of exercising authorship in the company of children. In this sense, we share the contributions of Rinaldi and Cardoso (2012, p. 3) when they state that

[...] Thinking about initial training, focused on the context of Early Childhood Education, requires us to consider much more specific aspects regarding the content and skills, or competencies, necessary for teaching knowledge. We are talking about a context that demands learning, which involves, among other things, consolidating pedagogical work that links the extra-school knowledge brought by children as a starting point and constant reference for planning, structuring, and organizing teaching activities.

Based on what the authors say, we understand that the teaching internship constitutes a privileged space to meet learning subjects (Peroza & Camargo, 2019), providing a space for listening and sharing with children in this movement of learning, planning, and organizing teaching practice. In this direction, when dealing with the teaching internship and the position of the supervising teacher, Drumond (2019) emphasizes that it is in contact with the context of Early Childhood Education, with children and teachers, that interns have their attention drawn to issues that, when discussed in a theoretical context, perhaps would not be addressed with equal attention.

Thus, it is based on the experiences of interns in Early Childhood Education institutions, combined with “readings and discussions at the university and with the internship supervisor, that students develop their knowledge” (Drumond, 2019, p. 5). This learning of teaching that occurs during the curricular internship, according to Romanowski (2007), is constructed by the interaction between knowledge and culture (language, action, experience), linked to the elaboration of thoughts and the confrontation of tensions, contradictions, and challenges emerging from teaching practice.

In fact, we defend the argument that the internship in Early Childhood Education is a privileged space to develop knowledge and learning about teaching, considering the particularities and specificities of this educational stage. From this point of view, we agree with Voltarelli and Monteiro (2016) when they state that the teaching internship, a space that mobilizes teaching of learning, emerges from different situations and spaces that mobilize interns to attribute meaning to what is experienced in their daily journey with children.

Corroborating the argument, Romanowski and Cartaxo (2021, p. 743), based on research conducted with undergraduate students on learning of teaching, highlight that “learning spaces [...] refer to places in which interaction is expanded and diversified, as in the case of extension projects, PIBID, internships, and basic school”. As an example of this, the learning process of teaching referred to by the authors can be evidenced in the reflections in the undergraduate theses that we share below:

We can only offer our children a repertoire of experiences if we, as teachers, also have them. If our experiences are limited, our practice will be equally limited, as it is not possible to transmit what we have not lived. The teacher can remain [...] in search of knowledge, carry out readings, participate in courses, visit museums, theatre, cinemas, exhibitions, everything that can add knowledge and that can contribute to his repertoire of experiences, to project them into his teaching practice (Corassa, 2019, p. 45-46, emphasis added).

[...] The biggest lesson I learned from the internship was: learning to be a teacher. Obviously, there is still a lot to learn, but it was a great start, where I learned to observe and see children and colleagues (Zanolete, 2020, p. 35, emphasis added).

Given the above, we understand that observing children is a possibility of creating bonds and reducing power asymmetries between adults and children. As Fortunati and Zingoni (2016, p. 76) state, it is through observation that the teacher has the possibility of perceiving a “network of actions and interactions [between adults and children] that are at play, without interrupting or breaking it but [seeking to build] opportunities” for teaching that is attentive to children’s demands.

In the analysis of the narratives that constitute the investigative material of our research, we noted that the interns repeatedly affirm the power of observation and perception of the child as the center of the educational project. The sensitivity, attention, and respect for children, evidenced by the interns in the narratives contained in their research, denote the learning of carrying out planning organized based on observation and listening to children in the Early Childhood Education institution.

As in Ostetto (2008, p. 128), we understand that teacher training involves more than technical rationality since, in addition to the knowledge that supports pedagogical practice, the teacher training process is also made up of “[...] life stories, beliefs, values, affection, in short, the subjectivity of the subjects involved”. In this sense, through the discussions shared during this section, we highlight the importance of the teaching internship as a significant space and time for learning the profession.

Given this, in the next section, we will discuss the interns’ perspective and listening as principles of teaching children in Early Childhood Education.

Observation and listening as principles of teaching children

I became sensitive to the gaze of the children, who, from the very first moment, welcomed me into the class. Due to this sensitive look, I was able to confirm: that they are truly physical! Thus, from observation, I realized the importance of planning an atelier in which children had regular proposals where they could express themselves physically (Formigheri, 2019, p. 60-61, emphasis added).

The act of observing is fundamental for planning the teaching practice. Paying attention to the moment, to the action in the present, putting oneself in the space to understand the other, listening and allowing oneself to connect with the different languages used by children to communicate, is the challenge that presents itself to the teacher (Formigheri, 2019, p. 58, emphasis added).

The proposals emerged from observation, and attentive listening to the interests demonstrated daily by children in their stories, their actions, interests, and games, which led me to research some works by contemporary artists that I already knew and admired and thought about how I could bring these artists closer to children, as I felt this was missing (Moreira, 2018, p. 44, emphasis added).

The first process [...] is the observation period, where it becomes necessary to stop looking at the teacher and pay attention to the children, their relationships, and behaviors. It is very important to keep in mind, at this point, that the observation will be focused on the children, as the objective is to get to know them to, from there, build the atelier [...] based on the needs and interests of the class with which it will be worked (Zanolete, 2020, p. 20, emphasis added).

The interns’ narratives in their research reiterate observation and listening as principles of teaching children in Early Childhood Education. Observation and attentive listening to children form a kind of dyad that makes it possible to be with the children (Carvalho, 2021) — to form a bond — and, therefore, to plan based on their demands and the institutional context in which the internship field institution is located. It is in this direction that the “stance,” as Ostetto and Maia (2019) call it, constitutes “[...] an enormous learning experience in the process of becoming a professional” for interns. According to the authors, this is an interested stance, which provides “[...] involvement, through recording, problematization and generation of data for [...] each intern to learn (lessons about) the teaching profession [...]” (Ostetto & Maia, 2019, p. 4). This perspective allows interns to get closer to children and perceive the demands, challenges, and possibilities of the internship context.

Corroborating the argument, Díez Navarro (2022) defends the inseparability between observation and listening based on sharing the expression of a gaze that listens. As the author points out, “[...] children need a strong bond with their teachers to feel in good hands; to lean on them emotionally, to trust that they will take care of them [...]” (Díez Navarro, 2022, p. 184), and this only occurs when adults can look at them and listen to them — affecting and being affected by them.

In this scenario, we agree with Altimir (2010, p. 15) when he assures that listening to teachers is “[...] an attitude that we must adopt if we believe in an educational model that considers boys and girls as transmitters of culture, as people capable of creating and constructing meanings [...]” based on everyday experiences in Early Childhood Education. Given this, like Santos (2022, p. 73), we affirm that “listening to children is a political and pedagogical act.” For the author, listening is an act —as it involves responsibility and responsiveness— an aspect elucidated by the interns in their texts when, based on their positions as interns, they challenge the asymmetry of power relations between adults and children, making themselves available to listen to the demands of the children and their points of view on matters that concern them.

According to Santos (2022), listening becomes a political act when the teachers are available and attentive to children. Listening involves being attentive and listening —in every sense— to children and the relationships they establish with life. In this sense, listening can also be seen as a pedagogical act since “[...] it is founded when the experience of speaking and being listened to represents a gesture of welcoming the human being that the listener has before him” (Santos, 2022, p. 75). Below, we share a set of narratives from interns that highlight the effects of seeing and listening to children in teaching practice:

[...] I believe that I was able to develop a sensitive perspective, especially with children and their potential (Prette, 2020, p. 66, emphasis added).

In Early Childhood Education, observation not only serves to understand the daily life of the class and the school but also helps to perceive the different languages and subjectivities present in that space (Prette, 2020, p. 64, emphasis added).

The children's closeness and curiosity were an invitation for me to get to know each one a little bit and be part of their routine. I was able to perceive the tastes and preferences of the class, such as what they liked to do, their games and ways of relating to their peers, what I could bring as something new to them, what I saw as necessary based on what they showed me [...] (Corassa, 2019, p. 12, emphasis added).

[...] What strikes us is that teaching actions refer to children's reactions, that attentive listening and respect refer to trust and security, the multiple possibilities offered refer to freedom of choice, the provocative invitation of proposals refer to immersion and enchantment in planning and proposing, refer to enchantment in experiments and creations. There was complicity, co-authorship, and collaboration [...] (Moreira, 2018, p. 94, emphasis added).

The shared narratives demonstrate the constitution of a teaching style in which children’s knowledge and experiences are central. From this perspective, we consider what Altimir (2010) said when he recalls that “[...] the concept of listening is indefectibly related from the beginning to the words attitude and need.” "Attitude" and "need" refer to the fact that listening should be a transversal principle of the educational project of Early Childhood Education institutions — daycare centers and preschools. Listening to children through the mobilization of a listening gaze (Díez Navarro, 2022) demands that all actors — children, teachers, and families — be heard and have their voices recognized.

In this sense, for the interns, learning to “gaze at everyday life, mediated by theory [...]” (Ostetto & Maia, 2019, p. 6) has the effect of listening to the children and, in a related way, to the other actors that make up the institution. As can be seen in the narratives, the involvement with what the children say and do mobilize them to think about constructing a plan that emerges from the interests and needs of the children as full-fledged social actors in the institution.

Listening to children is discussed in the studies by Carvalho and Sâmia (2016) as a constituent element of teaching professionalism that enables the “implementation of attitudes of recognition of children’s potential and their social role” to establish a pedagogical relationship supported by reciprocity, with adults who are able to look at children in an open, sensitive and reflective way. In this conception, Corsino (2009, p. 117) argues that “planning includes listening to the child in order to design an action that expands their possibilities of producing meanings.” In this sense, listening is not restricted to just the act but also includes the mobilization of actions based on what is heard. In other words, listening allows the teacher to truly get closer to the children, providing structure and support in a collaborative way for their learning.

We believe that recognizing children as subjects of rights requires a shift from teaching practices based on transmission and reproduction to promoting spaces for authorship, participation, listening, and production of meanings in Early Childhood Education. From this perspective, Infantino (2022) emphasizes that it is not trivial for teachers to identify how to access children, sustain motivation, and promote meaningful experiences without directing and imposing. Thus, the internship is a privileged space to learn with and about children, integrating them into a participatory perspective.

Based on this understanding, Ribeiro (2022, p. 99) states that the functioning of participatory pedagogies in Early Childhood Education requires the construction of a vision of children as “bearers of countless languages and producers of culture.” From this perspective, the author defends listening to teachers as a way of supporting participatory pedagogies based on their investigation and reflection on the intentionality of their teaching practice. This process highlights the importance of recognizing the agency of children as subjects of rights and the need to promote spaces so that children can collaborate with teachers in the construction of the Early Childhood Education curriculum. The recognition of the agency of children and the importance of observation and promoting listening to children as fundamental principles for the functioning of participatory teaching practice is repeatedly evidenced in the narratives shared in this section.

In the next section, we will address the promotion of children's participation using the atelier as a planning method in Early Childhood Education. We will then focus on how the interns, based on observation and listening to their work groups, propose ateliers that consider the multiple languages of children based on interaction, investigation, discovery, and construction of knowledge mediated by intentional teaching action.

The atelier as a planning method and children's participation

The atelier evokes the idea of a laboratory, where the individual is encouraged to research, create, explore, transform, build, and express themselves through different languages, for example, body, musical, graphic, artistic, and dramatic languages, among others (Zanolete, 2020, p. 20-21, emphasis added).

The atelier [...] main objective was to provide children with action, creation, and exploration through different materials and supports based on proposals inspired by the work of Latin American female artists. As a teacher, I believe that as well as presenting diverse materials and supports for children's productions, it is necessary to recognize, value, and use diverse references. From this perspective, the artistic repertoires that I chose to reference are directly related to an educational practice that respects and values multiple types of knowledge (Prette, 2020, p. 67, emphasis added).

Throughout the proposals, we had children immersed in the experiments, curious, active, participatory, collaborative, creative, and free in their choices, together with a poetic, instigating, artistic, active/participatory, provoked/provocative, enchanted/enchanting teaching practice (Moreira, 2018, p. 94, emphasis added).

In the case of the atelier [...], the proposals developed focused on instigating children's narratives. So that the books read to children could be part of their play repertoire, I chose to include themes that permeate the children's daily lives. Thus, by listening to the stories and actively participating in the reading mediation processes developed, the children could narrate and create stories and imagine scenarios. Furthermore, children had the opportunity to change the course of the narratives through play and imagination (Varriale, 2023, p. 10, emphasis added).

Provide an atelier that [...] promotes learning that values each child's path. Break with the paradigm of standard, homogeneous education and seek to encourage children to be researchers and protagonists in their learning processes. Planning through ateliers allows for this malleability since there is an initial intentionality from the teacher, which can be reinvented and experienced in different ways by the children (Formigheri, 2019, p. 112, emphasis added).

The atelier as a planning modality is recurrently addressed in the undergraduate theses analyzed. In this sense, we understand that associated with learning how to gaze and listen to children, the planning and proposition of ateliers during internships constitute a formative practice for students. In the set of studies analyzed, Moreira (2018), Corassa (2019), Formigheri (2019), Prette (2020), and Zanolete (2020) shared discussions that had as their research object the reflection on their teaching practice based on the proposition of contemporary art ateliers in Early Childhood Education— except Varialle (2023), whose proposed atelier is based on the promotion of spaces for the production of oral narratives based on literary mediation.

The concept of atelier presented in the analyzed studies can be associated with the discussion developed by Barbieri (2021, p. 18) when she argues that “the atelier [...] is a way of seeing the world.” The author points out that the atelier “[...] is a state of perception, of movement in the world, a laboratory state; it is what brings us vitality” (Barbieri, 2021, p. 18). By proposing ateliers, the interns mobilize languages, actions, and experiments based on promoting children’s participation.

From this perspective, the ateliers proposed by the interns involve “[...] action, experimentation, investigation, discoveries, and learning of the children in the company of the teacher, who acts as a mediator based on their intentional and reflected action” (Carvalho & Lopes, 2022, p. 200). It is possible to observe, in the shared narratives, that the atelier proposals emerge “[...] from the teacher's observation of his group of children, considering their age and their demands” (Carvalho & Lopes, 2022, p. 200). Therefore, it is not a work project with an investigative path defined a priori, but a set of actions that mobilize the different languages — oral, corporal, musical, graphic, plastic, etcetera — of children, which emerge from observation, listening, and the articulation of children's knowledge and experiences with historically accumulated knowledge, as recommended by the Brazilian National Curricular Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (DCNEI) (Brasil, 2009). For this reason, “the atelier proposition is constituted (in a relational way) by the following elements: spaces, times, materials, languages, relationships, groups, and mediations” (Carvalho & Lopes, 2022, p. 201).

In this sense, the interns consider the atelier as a “laboratory that mobilizes experiments” based on a specific triggering theme — for example, contemporary art and children's literature, as in the case of the research we are discussing. In this way, “the atelier as a planning perspective does not have a defined time [...], as its continuity can be extended or reduced, according to the intentions of the teacher and the interest and curiosity of the children” (Carvalho & Lopes, 2022, p. 200).

The ateliers proposed by the interns were organized into sections, with groups of 4 to 6 children, to monitor, interlocution, and record the children's actions during the proposals developed. As described in the studies, there was a working partnership between the intern, teacher, and assistants in organizing the spaces and the class into groups to develop the proposed ateliers.

In the proposals shared by the interns involving drawing, painting, sculpture, photographic recording, storytelling, the body in movement, etcetera, there was the intention of promoting children’s participation. The understanding of their participation in the actions proposed by the interns concerned the promotion of spaces and times so that children had the opportunity to “take part, have part and be part” (Bordenave, 1994) of the shared construction of the curriculum. Given this, there was also the “[...] promotion of spaces [...] for listening, because to take part in the decisions demanded in the discussions mobilized [by the interns] and by their peers, the children needed to be part of the group” (Carvalho, 2023, p. 12).

Listening and promoting the participation of their classes in the ateliers proposed by the interns refer to the discussions of Blanco and Cidrás (2021) when they approach the atelier as an interdisciplinary space in which children have the possibility of making drawings, sculptures, collages, performances, etcetera based on the attribution of meanings to the materialities with which they come into contact, under the mediation of the teacher. Among the proposals developed by the interns, we find records and reflections that encourage us to think that participation mobilized by playfulness can be understood “[...] by the freedom to imagine, fantasize, and poetize the world” (Redin, 2009, p. 123). The interns' mention of the experiences of the children in the atelier denotes their understanding of a body that plays, explores, communicates, and learns. This child body, often silenced in Early Childhood Education practices, finds spaces and times for creation, movement, and exploration in the ateliers proposed by the interns, as evidenced in the narratives that we will share below:

In the case of the atelier [...] I start from the perspective that every human being is a body. A body that moves, expresses itself, and feels different sensations and emotions. Therefore, human beings are always dealing with movement. Whether it is for conducting daily tasks, for work, study, or even for fun (Formigheri, 2019, p. 76, emphasis added).

To maintain organization, the head teacher stipulated specific places for certain children to stay away from, seeking to avoid conflict. In the proposals related to dance [...] I could see that the children were excited. In these proposals, observing each of the children carefully, I saw that some chose to dance softly, others looked for partners, and some even dared to try more challenging dance steps. At this moment, I noticed the potential of working with music, dance, body, and movement as the children showed a strong desire to express themselves physically. In the proposals involving movement, there was a varied potential that could be explored. It was heterogeneous, unique, and singular (Formigheri, 2019, p. 60, emphasis added).

Dance as a language that mobilizes the intern's atelier demonstrates recognition of the child as a subject who “has in the materiality of the body its expressive evidence” (Marques, 2018, p. 27). From this point of view, Marques (2018, p. 32) states that “it is by experimenting with their bodies in this world of sensorialities that children learn, establish relationships between things and can inquire about their discoveries, appropriate new references and create original ways [...]” of expressing themselves.

Ratifying the argument, Camargo and Dornelles (2023) defend the importance of teacher training that addresses the body and movement as constituents of play in Early Childhood Education. From this perspective, the authors address the need to “think about how [the] teacher in training appropriates/constructs and reconstructs knowledge about children and their childhoods from the perspective of play, the body and movement” (Camargo & Dornelles, 2023, p. 310). As can be seen in the narratives that we will share below, the atelier as a planning modality in Early Childhood Education allows interns to provide opportunities for children to express themselves using their multiple languages:

The studio [...] sought to provide unique experiences for the children's graphic and plastic creations, expanding their cultural repertoire, offering different materials and supports, and creating rich environments for narratives, fantasies, dialogues, and interpretations (Prette, 2020, p. 67, emphasis added).

Because I believe that Early Childhood Education is a place for experimentation, it is a laboratory for children's lives, I think that the atelier [...] offered many possibilities for creation and experimentation. [...] Early Childhood Education only exists if the subjects are active and participative, there should not be permanent spectators but participative, creative subjects who bring life and action to these places (Moreira, 2018, p. 91-92, emphasis added).

The atelier was the place (or places) where children experimented, explored, expressed themselves, and communicated their ideas and possibilities through the use of and contact with different materials, which here are also considered a language. Each proposal was composed of plastic materials (paints, pigments...) and materialities (fabrics, threads, corks, balls...), spaces (room, patio), ambiance (lights, music), feelings/rituals (mandalas...) that will be mentioned throughout this writing, to bring us closer to the children's creations and their processes (Moreira, 2018, p. 15-16, emphasis added).

Through the shared narratives, it is appropriate to mention the discussion by Dias and Bhering (2004, p. 98) on the importance of the daily journey of children in Early Childhood Education becoming a space for mobilizing investigations and discoveries so that the contents of the interactions “can come to life within the previously constructed planning and even be expanded beyond what the adults planned [...]” through the hypotheses, questions, and propositions of the children. We believe that learning to observe and listen to the demands of children in Early Childhood Education constitutes a learning experience of the professional craft that demands time, mediation, and monitoring by the teacher supervising the internship in this process. We understand that the possibility for the interns (whose studies were analyzed) to develop ateliers as a way of planning their teaching practices in Early Childhood Education allowed them to get closer to the knowledge and experiences of children. Given this, the interns could promote children’s participation in the proposals based on art as a mobilizer of different languages. Considering the discussion presented, we will present the final considerations of the article in the next section.

Final considerations

Provide an atelier that, based on inspiration and theoretical foundations, promotes learning that values each child's individualized journey. Break with the paradigm of standard, homogeneous education and seek to encourage children to be researchers and protagonists in their learning processes. Planning through ateliers allows for this malleability since there is an initial intentionality from the teacher, which can be reinvented and experienced in different ways by the children (Formigheri, 2019, p. 112, emphasis added).

Based on the discussion presented, it is possible to infer the relevance of the teaching curricular internship in mobilizing learning in the profession through observation, listening, and promoting children’s participation in the construction of the Early Childhood Education curriculum. By reading the analysis material, we evidenced that, through curricular internship practices, the students had the opportunity to establish fruitful connections between the disciplinary knowledge learned during their undergraduate studies in the Undergraduate Program in Pedagogy Education and the teaching practice with children based on an exercise of professional authorship triggered by the proposition of ateliers. From this perspective, the interns occupied a “[...] propositional and, at the same time, dialogical role with the children [...]” (Guimarães, 2019, p. 9), metaphorically exercising the role of architects and hosts (Brailovsky, 2020) in their teaching practices.

During the analysis of the interns' narratives, we realized that listening was seen as a political and pedagogical act (Santos, 2022) in internship practices, allowing children to have the opportunity to take part, to have a part, and to be part (Bordenave, 1994) of the proposals developed in the workshops, as well as of the decisions of daily life in the Early Childhood Education institution. Observing and listening to the children allowed the interns to recognize them as subjects with rights within the educational process, as the planning of teaching practices welcomed and incorporated their points of view. In this process, the children's knowledge and experiences were articulated in multiple languages, which gave meaning to the proposals made possible by the interns through the ateliers. Reading the works leads to the perception of the Early Childhood Education curriculum being constituted from work shared with children.

Given the above, the atelier as a planning modality mobilized the interns to exercise a process of authorship of their teaching practices and affirmation of the inseparability between the care and education of children. In the narratives analyzed, we noticed the interns' concern with the organization of spaces, with the selection of materials offered, with the curation of references –musical, filmic, literary, technological, etcetera– but also with the well-being of children in their daily journey in Early Childhood Education. Given this, we identify the constitution of teaching in Early Childhood Education based on “[...] ethical action, involved with the collective, committed to children, at the same time [...] with the knowledge already produced” (Guimarães, 2019, p. 97-98).

Associated with the learning of teaching practice, we also show that the curricular internship in Early Childhood Education promoted the training of professionals who are sensitive and attentive to the demands of children. The interns repeatedly mentioned in their narratives the establishment of relationships of affection and sensitivity that enabled the development of proposals —with emphasis on art as the central axis of the works analyzed— that enhanced the children's experience in terms of investigations, learning, discoveries and dense social relationships with peers. To this end, through the ateliers, the children had extended time, as well as planned spaces and diverse materials previously selected, so that they could live the educational experience mobilized by the proposals and, above all, by the encounter between peers.

Furthermore, the narratives, images, and textual organization of the undergraduate theses analyzed allowed us to perceive the existence of a context of attentive observation, recording, and pedagogical documentation during the teaching internship. This process, combined with guidance from the supervising teacher, enabled the interns to write reflective texts that demonstrate the transformation of experiences in the internship into learning fundamental professional knowledge for teaching in Early Childhood Education. In short, the interns who authored the analyzed undergraduate theses learned that “being a teacher [...] implies assuming a way of moving, speaking, feeling, appropriating space [...]” (Brailovsky, 2023, p. 27), time, and life that pulses in the daily life of Early Childhood Education institutions, based on pedagogical gestures (Brailovsky, 2023) that welcome children in their strengths and singularities.

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Notes