Ainda que as crianças façam parte da escola e esta se destine principalmente a elas, suas opiniões acerca dessa instituição raramente são escutadas. Com base na perspectiva histórico-cultural do desenvolvimento humano, o objetivo deste estudo foi compreender as concepções das crianças acerca da escola de educação infantil. A amostra foi composta por 5 díades de crianças de 5 anos de idade, que frequentavam o último ano de educação infantil. Cenas e consignas previamente organizadas em 3 sessões de brincar foram utilizadas para eliciar episódios compatíveis com os objetivos do estudo. Os dados foram submetidos a análise de conteúdo temática. Os resultados mostraram que para as crianças a escola de educação infantil é, principalmente, um lugar para brincar, no qual são realizadas atividades específicas, em um espaço físico típico. Esses resultados indicam a importância de se pensar que espaços e oportunidades para brincadeiras estão sendo disponibilizados nas escolas de educação infantil. / Although children are part of the school which is addressed mainly to them, their opinions concerning this institution are rarely heard. Based on the cultural historical perspective of human development, this investigation aimed to comprehend how children conceptualize the preschool. Five 5-year-old dyads enrolled in the last year of the preschool compounded the sample. Scenes and instructions previously organized along three play sessions were used to elicit episodes compatibles with the aims of the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that for the children the school is mainly a place to play and in which specific activities are carried out in a particular physical space. These results open the discussion on the spaces and the opportunities preschools are actually providing for children.

Ainda que as crianças façam parte da escola e esta se destine principalmente a elas, suas opiniões acerca dessa instituição raramente são escutadas. Com base na perspectiva histórico-cultural do desenvolvimento humano, o objetivo deste estudo foi compreender as concepções das crianças acerca da escola de educação infantil. A amostra foi composta por 5 díades de crianças de 5 anos de idade, que frequentavam o último ano de educação infantil. Cenas e consignas previamente organizadas em 3 sessões de brincar foram utilizadas para eliciar episódios compatíveis com os objetivos do estudo. Os dados foram submetidos a análise de conteúdo temática. Os resultados mostraram que para as crianças a escola de educação infantil é, principalmente, um lugar para brincar, no qual são realizadas atividades específicas, em um espaço físico típico. Esses resultados indicam a importância de se pensar que espaços e oportunidades para brincadeiras estão sendo disponibilizados nas escolas de educação infantil. / Although children are part of the school which is addressed mainly to them, their opinions concerning this institution are rarely heard. Based on the cultural historical perspective of human development, this investigation aimed to comprehend how children conceptualize the preschool. Five 5-year-old dyads enrolled in the last year of the preschool compounded the sample. Scenes and instructions previously organized along three play sessions were used to elicit episodes compatibles with the aims of the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that for the children the school is mainly a place to play and in which specific activities are carried out in a particular physical space. These results open the discussion on the spaces and the opportunities preschools are actually providing for children.

Ainda que as crianças façam parte da escola e esta se destine principalmente a elas, suas opiniões acerca dessa instituição raramente são escutadas. Com base na perspectiva histórico-cultural do desenvolvimento humano, o objetivo deste estudo foi compreender as concepções das crianças acerca da escola de educação infantil. A amostra foi composta por 5 díades de crianças de 5 anos de idade, que frequentavam o último ano de educação infantil. Cenas e consignas previamente organizadas em 3 sessões de brincar foram utilizadas para eliciar episódios compatíveis com os objetivos do estudo. Os dados foram submetidos a análise de conteúdo temática. Os resultados mostraram que para as crianças a escola de educação infantil é, principalmente, um lugar para brincar, no qual são realizadas atividades específicas, em um espaço físico típico. Esses resultados indicam a importância de se pensar que espaços e oportunidades para brincadeiras estão sendo disponibilizados nas escolas de educação infantil. / Although children are part of the school which is addressed mainly to them, their opinions concerning this institution are rarely heard. Based on the cultural historical perspective of human development, this investigation aimed to comprehend how children conceptualize the preschool. Five 5-year-old dyads enrolled in the last year of the preschool compounded the sample. Scenes and instructions previously organized along three play sessions were used to elicit episodes compatibles with the aims of the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that for the children the school is mainly a place to play and in which specific activities are carried out in a particular physical space. These results open the discussion on the spaces and the opportunities preschools are actually providing for children.

Research taking the perspective of gifted children’s own experiences is scarce. To this researcher’s knowledge, there exists none regarding their pre-school years in the Swedish context. Therefore, this study attempts to meet this need of knowledge by presenting the voices of young gifted people’s lived experience of their pre-school years. The purpose ofthe present study is to explore the lived experiences of a few adolescents and their own conceptions and experiences of their pre-school years. Two research questions assisted my exploration of the material: What in the adolescents’ narratives appears as of significance to them? and What does it mean to experience pre-school for these gifted adolescents? Taking a phenomenologically informed approach, five semi structured interviews with informants aged 10-18 where conducted. Previous research on young gifted children has focused mainly on identification of gifted children. There are studies that put forward children’s experience of pre-school, but very few seek the experience of gifted children. Phenomenological theories also helped in analyzing the results, Ahmed’s queer phenomenology and Schütz view on the lifeworld and the social world were used. The results show that four themes were of most importance to the children; stimulation, influence, relations with peers and relations with adults, although it was also found that each individual had his/her unique experience. To some, experiencing pre-school meant for example loneliness and anxiety, while to others it meant playing with friends and positive feelings. By using the theoretical terms from Ahmed (2006) and Schütz (2002) it was found that in order to reach an oriented state, stimulation seemed necessary. Social relations with children or adults and learning activities at the correct individually adjusted level seemed to give stimulation. Influence, for example by being allowed to be different (queer), seemed to increase the possibilities to reach stimulation. When lacking both social relations and intellectual stimulation, orientation does not seem possible and sometimes causes a long-lasting disorientation or crisis. When lacking social relations some compensation from learning activities might be possible and as a consequence orientation in these moments. Implications of the study include, like previous research has found, the need of knowledge of giftedness and resources in pre-school to enable meeting the needs of all children, but mainly the contribution is that this study clarifies the great need of research in the area of gifted children’s own experiences of pre-school in order to better inform the practice.