This paper discusses childhood education in the context of Brazilian educational policies. In a first moment, childhood education is situated in the political panorama and the challenges of this field are presented. The paper then focuses on teacher education, one of the most expressive challenges of Brazilian educational policies and analyses the importance of the changes in the Pedagogy Course curriculum. In a third moment, it explores childhood education and basic school (now 9 year long) as inseparable levels of the democratization process of Brazilian education and points out the relevance of this articulation for children and pedagogic practice in nursery, primary and basic schools.
Childhood education; Teacher education; Basic school