Adaptação infantil na escola no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19 : sinais e sintomas em crianças de 4 e 5 anos.

Abstract

Given the legal obligation for early childhood education, the present work aims to identify, analyse and understand the signs (visible) and symptoms (not visible) found in the school adaptation process of 4 and 5 year old children, understanding that this phase is the beginning of the educational path. In this period of adaptation, the child is faced with challenges not only in literacy but also in socialisation, something that has become more challenging in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Preschool adaptation can evolve into a series of disorders and we aim to identify the signs and symptoms referring to problems of adaptation to the school context, such as behaviors/attitudes/complaints in the questionnaires of parents and caregivers of children aged 4 and 5 years at two Santa Maria municipal schools in Rio Grande do Sul. The research is based on Early Childhood Education, Official Documents of Pedagogy and Psychology. The work was divided into research and development of the technical product. In the first stage of this study, a systematic review of the literature on the subject was carried out, using the Google Scholar and PubMed platforms which supported the preparation of the article “Adaptation of children between 4 and 5 years old at school” and the construction of the research questionnaires. In the second stage, one questionnaire was applied to parents and another to educators, through the Survey platform following the “snowball” sampling method. Subsequently, we sought to deepen the theme through two focus groups, one with parents and another with educators, in which they reported their experiences related to the childrens' adaptation period. From data analysis, two technical products were elaborated: A book and a card game that were applied to children aged 4 and 5 years. The book “Adaptação Escolar da Joaninha Lola” interacts by talking to children about their own experiences, using an accessible and playful language. The deck of cards was used to work on themes that involve school adaptation and allow investigating the signs and symptoms of difficulties in adapting to children during this period. It was noticed that the most relevant signs and symptoms reported by parents and teachers were difficulty in concentrating, anxiety, avoiding some activity, fear and crying. This data is relevant insofar as it enables the elaboration of mechanisms to prevent non-adaptation and suffering in the first weeks at school.