The purpose of the study is to examine how pedagogues practice their authority over children in conflict situations at preschools. How are children treated based solely on them being children? And how do preschool teachers validate children’s experiences of conflicts? To get answers I proceeded by using a qualitative data collection method and a hermeneutical analysis. I collected the material for the study by observing and interviewing pedagogues to both get an idea of ​​how they act in practice and how they reason about conflict situations in the preschool. The essay is based on a childhood sociological theoretical perspective that recognizes the importance of social and cultural context. The study’s results show that pedagogues practice their authority over children in conflict situations, but that it is done in different ways. How they practice authority, treat and validate children’s experiences depend on the pedagogues’ child perspective. Even though all the pedagogues in the study want what’s best for the children, the various conflict situations have completely different outcomes, since the pedagogues interpret children and their actions in very different ways, resulting in different responses and attitudes towards the children. The consequences of these different ways to respond need to be questioned and reflected upon. It’s time that the way pedagogues practice their authority and the way they see children is brought up for discussions within the world of preschool education.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem como objetivo estudar as práticas de autoridade exercidas pelos adultos, pais e professores, sobre as crianças no cotidiano de uma escola privada de educação infantil no município do Rio de Janeiro, tendo como base uma metodologia que entende a criança como sujeito da pesquisa. Assim, a compreensão dessas práticas considera o ponto de vista das crianças, o como se apropriam delas e as apresentam, entendendo a importância da brincadeira para as criança s conhecerem o mundo e, a partir da relação com seus pares e com os adultos, produzirem suas culturas a partir da cultura mais ampla onde estão inseridas. Michail Bakhtin foi um interlocutor especial nesse percurso, fornecendo o referencial teórico-metodológico para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa. A análise parte do diálogo com o pensamento de autores identificados com estudos sobre a infância, a criança e a educação infantil (Manoel Sarmento, Manoel Pinto, Sonia Kramer, Willian Corsaro, Cleopatre Montandon, Regine Sirota, entre outros). O primeiro capítulo situa a discussão num momento histórico específico: a contemporaneidade e os debates que a cercam. O segundo apresenta a escola e a família, tanto como construções históricas, como nos seus aspectos concretos das instituições pesquisadas. O terceiro, por fim, traz uma análise das práticas de autoridade a partir da observação das interações entre crianças e adultos e das crianças entre si. Assim, o presente estudo é um convite a olhar as práticas de autoridade a partir do que apresentam as crianças enquanto sujeitos que produzem cultura e que nela são produzidas. / [en] This dissertation aims to study the practice of authority exerted by the adults, parents and professors, on the daily life of children of a private school in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, having as a basis a methodology that takes into consideration the child as the subject of the research. Thus, the understanding of these different kinds of practice considers the point of view of the children, the way they appropriate and present them to us, understanding the importance of playing for the child to get to know its world and, from the relationship with its pairs and the adults, to produce its cultures from the more ample culture where they are inserted. Michail Bakhtin was a special interlocutor in this passage, supplying the theoretical and methodological knowledge for it. The analysis begins with a dialogue between the thoughts of authors who are identified with studies about infancy, the child and the childhood education (Manoel Sarmento, Manoel Pinto, Sonia Kramer, Willian Corsaro, Cleopatre Montandon, Regine Sirota, among others). The first chapter points out the question at a specific historical moment: the contemporary world and the controversies that surround it. The second chapter presents the school and the family, not only as historical constructions, but also in its concrete aspects of the researched institutions. Finally, the third chapter brings an analysis of the practices of authority, made from the observation of the interaction between children and adults and of children among themselves. Thus, the present study is an invitation to look into the practice of authority from the stand-point of what children show and present while citizens that produce culture and that are developed by culture at the same time.