Parceria público-privada na educação infantil: o atendimento à demanda de vagas no município de Santa Maria/RS

Abstract

This dissertation entitled “PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: MEETING THE DEMAND FOR VACANCY IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF SANTA MARIA/RS”, was developed in Research Line I - Policies and Management of Basic and Higher Education, of the Graduate Program in Public Policy and Educational Management at the Federal University of Santa Maria/RS. The research problem arose from my reflections on how public educational policies are put into practice in schools accredited to purchase places with the City Hall of Santa Maria/RS. With the general objective: to understand how the public-private partnership occurs in the purchase of places in Early Childhood Education in the municipality of Santa Maria, and the perception of managers and teachers of accredited schools about the quality of the offer. As specific objectives, they are constituted as follows: to map the IE offer in the municipal network of Santa Maria/RS, in schools accredited for the sale of vacancies and other schools that provide Early Childhood Education in the Municipality; analyze the pertinent legislation, and the Constitutional Amendment nº 59/2009 that guarantees the expansion of the number of places in Early Childhood Education in the Municipality of Santa Maria/RS; identify the mechanisms used by the Education Management of the Municipality of Santa Maria/RS to meet the demand for places in Early Childhood Education and prepare a guiding document for accredited schools in the municipal network of Santa Maria/RS to carry out a self-assessment of the quality of the offer . This participant research was methodologically based on a qualitative approach, using theoretical and documental foundations, as well as semi-structured interviews with the management of SMED (Department of the Municipality of Education) and application of a questionnaire with the management and with a teacher from each school authorized to purchase vacancies in Santa Maria/RS. The theoretical foundation addresses the history of Early Childhood Education in Brazil, constituting a study based on the authors Didonet (2001), Kuhlmann Jr. (2003), Kramer (2006), Campos, M. Malta and Fúlvia Rosemberg (2009). In addition, it addresses the legislation and guiding documents for the curricular and work organization in Early Childhood Education in Brazil. The way in which public policies are put into practice in schools accredited to sell vacancies in Santa Maria/RS are considered a central element in this research. It is concluded that although Santa Maria/RS has expanded the vacancies in the provision of Early Childhood Education via public-private partnership. This service has shown distinctions and low quality in the service provided to the entire community. The final product of this research is a guiding document that will be delivered to the institutions of the public-private partnership of Santa Maria/RS, allowing a self-assessment with a view to offering quality Early Childhood Education in these accredited schools.