The study, Safe, Inclusive Participative Pedagogy: Improving Early Childhood Education in Fragile Contexts, was part of a four-country effort to explore the reality of young children’s lives in low-income communities affected by violence, and discover the concerns and priorities of the parents, children, teachers, and community leaders. The study in Brazil led to a community wide process of developing a set of priorities for improving the educational and developmental chances of the community’s young children. 

All four countries, Brazil, Eswatini, Palestine and South Africa chose a low-income community to work with and the overall study was organized by the University of Edinburgh. CIESPI chose Rocinha, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, a community it has engaged with for many years. Rocinha has a population of over 100,000 people and stretches up a mountain. It is challenged by geography, overcrowding, and the violence that comes from the drug trade and the chaotic police response but has a vibrant small business life, about thirty formal preschool centers, churches, and some creative nonprofit organizations.

With the advice of a community advisory committee, CIESPI interviewed sixty parents, teachers and community leaders. The research team also engaged thirty children between the ages of three and seven using a variety of creative participatory methods for listening to children. The study questions probed views on inclusion, participation and safety of young children at home, the early childhood learning centers and in the community and about what was needed to improve the learning and developmental context for young children. 

The overriding concern of all respondents was the failures of the public sector to provide safety from violence and basic services like sanitation and garbage pickup. The geography of the area made travel very difficult. Everyone agreed that there were no safe places for young children to be outside their homes or schools. 

Early childhood centers provided critical care, sustenance and education but there were too few affordable centers. Most parents promoted their children’s learning at home and teachers were intent on promoting the participation of all children in the life of the classroom. Community activists helped run a variety of nonprofit cultural activities but there were too few resources for young children. 

A total of 300 residents and professionals participated in four community meetings to develop the community’s Charter for Early Childhood which had a special emphasis on mental health issues and racial and other forms of discrimination. 

The report was written by Renata Couto, Eliane Gomes, Leandro Castro and Irene Rizzini. Malcolm Bush was responsible for the English version of the report. 

The project was developed with the support of the UK Global Challenges Research Fund of the United Kingdom. The international principal investigator was Professor Kay Tisdall at the Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of

Edinburgh. The project was coordinated in Brazil by Professor Irene Rizzini of the Department of Social Work at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and director of the International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood at PUC-Rio. 

This report can be accessed here.