Corporeality and early childhood education: challenges for teachers in emergency remote education

Abstract

In early 2020, the pandemic of COVID-19 broke out. As a measure to preserve life, schools were closed indefinitely. Within this new reality, there was the need to adapt some basic and essential activities, such as education. In this sense, the article aims to present the alternatives found by teachers working in early childhood education to develop motor, body, and interpersonal issues with children from zero to five years of age during the period of emergency remote education. The research methodology is qualitative and exploratory in nature. The theory based on the data was the method of analysis of twenty-two questionnaires applied to teachers who worked in this modality during this period. What is the role of the family in the emergent remote teaching? What are the possibilities for movement and corporeality in this new context? What limitations did the pandemic cause in the context of social interactions in early childhood education? From these problematizations, the categories that emerged from the analysis were the interactions and the body movement, as well as the relationship of families with teaching and learning. The results point out that the emergency remote teaching caused a rupture with regard to the structuring axes of early childhood education; reinforced the indispensability of experiences lived through the body and interactions with others; highlighted the need for possible methodologies to re-signify the importance of being present in the school space and the power of affective bonds built in face-to-face meetings.