Cultural interactions between immigrant children and their pairs in early childhood education

Abstract

The research presented aimed to understand how cultural interactions occur between immigrant children with their pairs in times and spaces of a Municipal Early Childhood Education Center, through what the children themselves have to say. Sixteen four- and five-year-olds children participated in the study. To produce the data, observations, conversation circles, drawings, games and storytelling were used. The results, analyzed in the light of the sociology of childhood, indicate that the reception and interaction between pairs were present in the school context studied, even without the institution foreseeing specific actions for that, with play being the great mediator of these interactions, configuring as a form of language among children. It is concluded that the school has a fundamental role in the social inclusion of these children, but that it is important that they have, in addition to the right to be in school, the right to participate, to be heard and to have their culture valued.