This paper discusses data obtained from a review of empirical studies on the quality of early childhood education in Brazil published between 1996 and 2003. The sources were the main education journals published in the country and the papers presented at the most important scientific meeting of the area, The National Association of Graduate Studies and Research on Education (ANPEd) Annual Congress, Work Group on Education of 0-6 Year-Old Children (WG 7). The information gathered was selected according to main criteria for assessment of early childhood education quality as published in the literature: teacher education; curricula; infrastructure; educational practices, and relationships between schools and families. The general picture of early childhood education systems described in this review suggests a dynamic but contradictory reality characterized by an enormous distance between existing legal frameworks and the real day-to-day situations confronted by the majority of children and adults in early childhood education institutions.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION; TEACHER EDUCATION; TEACHING QUALITY; EMPIRICAL RESEARCH