Teachers’ perceptions of educational climate in early childhood education in São Bernardo do Campo

Abstract

This article presents a research whose objective was to verify the perception of early childhood education teachers from three municipal public schools located in São Bernardo do Campo/SP about four dimensions of the School Climate concept: a) social relations and conflicts at school; b) the rules, sanctions and safety at school; c) relations with work; d) management and participation. This is a qualitative, exploratory research, which used as a data collection procedure the Electronic School Climate questionnaire prepared by Vinha, Morais and Moro, in 2017, tested and validated for Brazilian schools. The problem of the investigation revolves around the conceptions of teachers of the schools surveyed to understand if they conceive the school social environment as significant in the transformation of school units into adequate spaces for coexistence under the framework of democracy. The research shows partially positive results, as the twenty-five teachers investigated say they are satisfied with their managers and feel valued in their work environments. However, a relevant point is that children do not participate in the discussions of rules, which are elaborated only by the managers. The four dimensions of the School Climate analyzed are quite relevant for the (re)structuring of more democratic, collaborative and autonomous learning environments, especially regarding the indication of creating means that give opportunity and voice to the public of early childhood education, as well as enhance work collective, autonomous and ethical between teachers and managers.