The body that narrates and resists: children’s agency under a pedagogy of control
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5212/PraxEduc.v.21.26283.067Abstract
This article presents part of a Master’s research project that examined how transcribed narratives and children’s bodily expressions documented in academic research reveal tactics of agency in response to mechanisms of control in Early Childhood Education. Using a state-of-the-knowledge review, 11 studies presented between 2015 and 2023 at Working Group 07 of the Brazilian National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (ANPEd) were mapped and constitute the corpus of this investigation. The theoretical framework brings together the Sociology of Education Policy, the Sociology of Childhood, and the Pedagogy of Childhood to challenge an adult-centric and institutionalizing model. The findings show that children exercise counter-hegemonic agency through intentional tactics of transgression and subversion. The study highlights the urgent need to move away from a school-oriented model in favor of play and experience, recognizing the body as a site of knowledge through sensitive listening.
Keywords: Early Childhood Education. State-of-the-knowledge review. Children’s agency.
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