Privatization of early childhood education: the role of private foundations in teacher education

Abstract

This article analyzes how private foundations have acted in early childhood teacher education through the dissemination of pedagogical conceptions and the production of audiovisual materials aimed at public school systems. The study is grounded in the understanding that the privatization of education is not limited to provision or management, but also reaches curricular dimensions and teacher education processes. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research is based on documentary and audiovisual analysis of videos published on YouTube by five third-sector organizations operating in Brazilian education: Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, Fundação Romi, Itaú Social, Nova Escola/Fundação Lemann, and Instituto Avisa Lá. The study draws primarily on the theoretical contributions of Pierre Bourdieu (1983), Christian Laval (2019), Stephen Ball (2022), as well as authors from the field of educational policies and education privatization. The analysis shows that the videos operate as mechanisms of teacher education, disseminating pedagogical models aligned with neoliberal rationality, centered on the valorization of practice, sensitivity, and the individual adaptation of teachers. The study also identifies the construction of symbolic authority by these foundations, legitimized through the presence of specialists and the broad media circulation of such materials. It concludes that these initiatives contribute to the de-intellectualization of teaching and to the weakening of the critical, collective, and political dimensions of early childhood teacher education.