The care for babies in nurseries in the countryside: reflections based on brazilian academic production

Abstract

In this article we present an excerpt from ongoing doctoral research whose object of study is the care of babies in daycare centers in rural areas. We aim, based on a bibliographical review, to address some questions about this service. The survey of academic publications was carried out in the following databases: Catalog of Theses and Dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - CAPES, Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations – BDTD, Scientific Electronic Library Online - SciELO, Brazilian Review of Rural Education and Annals of the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Education - ANPED. The searches were carried out considering the period between 2009 and 2023. From the searches carried out, it was possible to verify that despite there being a considerable number of works involving themes related to Early Childhood Education in the countryside, there are few studies that in any way refer to babies. These studies indicated the absence of daycare provision for babies living in the rural areas surveyed; little or no understanding on the part of managers of the specificities of baby care and the need for new research to understand the perspectives and needs of families with babies. It is considered a challenge to be faced by the areas of Early Childhood Education and Rural Education, the carrying out of research that can contribute with knowledge and information necessary for the realization of the rights of babies and very young children in different Brazilian territories.

Keywords: countryside early childhood education; babies; nurseries; rural families.