A cultural-historical perspective of young children gaining autonomy in the playground

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on a three-year ethnographic study during which we investigated young children's cultural development in a Brazilian early childhood centre. A cultural-historical approach was used to understand the concept of autonomy. We focus on Danilo, a very young child who overcame his fear of using a play slide (a cultural artefact). We believe that this process led to his achievement. Our findings suggest that young children's conquests consist of intentional actions that become part of their individual and social identities.

KEYWORDS:

• Autonomy
• young children
• early childhood education
• cultural-historical theory
• ethnography

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express our gratitude to all research participants (the young children in the study as well as their teachers and their families) and the entire research team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant number 402690/2016-8]; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais [grant number PPM-00675-18]; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [grant number PROEX-03/2023].