This article results from a survey based on papers presented in the working group (GT) 07: Education of children aged 0 to 6 years, at the annual meetings of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (Anped), between 2003 and 2013. This study aims at mapping the scientific literature on young children (from zero to three years of age). In order to refine the search, some keywords were defined: early childhood education; childcare; nursery; young children; babies; zero to three. The first search focused on abstracts and keywords proposed in the articles, besides that, when necessary, the whole paper was analyzed. From this initial search, 23 papers about the topic were read in full for categorization and analysis. Based on the reading of the articles, the methodological strategy of content analysis was applied. It was then possible, through the inductive method, to group the papers into themes: pedagogical dimension, sociological perspectives, policies for early childhood education and history. It is noteworthy that in the period between 2003 and 2013, a total of 175 papers were presented in GT07; however, only 23 papers approached topics related to children aged zero to three. Despite this number being very inferior to the total of articles, it reveals a growing concern and priority in the area regarding the situation of nursery and young children.
early childhood education; scientific production; zero to three.
