Daycare center at early childhood education: from occupation to right A creche da Educa o Infantil: entre o ofício e o direito

In Brazil, little children have been considered as a homogeneous group and early childhood education and socialization have been assigned as a family task, except for poor children or working mothers’ children. Changes in values and habits have increased the demand for early childhood education policies. Progressively, children begin to be recognized as social actors and situated in a specifi c historical context. In this sense, early childhood education institutions are now considered places where little children experience their childhood, develop peer culture and participate in cultural production, and various political and legal advances are observed. The right to education from birth presupposes a social responsibility for the child. The right to early childhood education has established an intersection between private matters and those of a public order. The aim of this text is to present public policies for early childhood, discussing policies for educational expansion and the conception of children as subjects of rights. Keywords: Early childhood. Public policies. Visibility. Day care. Sociology of childhood. A socializa o e a educa o de crian as de 0 a 3 anos tem sido tarefa atribuída à família, exceto quando se trata de crian as pobres ou fi lhas de trabalhadoras. Mudan as nos valores e costumes têm aumentado a demanda por políticas de educa o infantil. Aos poucos, as crian as come am a ser reconhecidas como atores sociais, situadas em um contexto histórico particular. Nesse sentido, as institui es de educa o infantil podem ser consideradas como lugares onde as crian as pequenas vivem suas infancias, criam culturas infantis e participam da produ o cultural. O direito à educa o desde o nascimento pressup e uma responsabilidade social sobre as crian as. O objetivo deste texto é apresentar as conquistas na visibilidade das crian as de 0 a 3 anos e a rela o com as políticas públicas de educa o infantil, discutindo políticas de expans o educacional e a concep o de crian a como sujeito de direitos. Palavras-chave: Pequena infancia. Políticas públicas. Visibilidade. Creche. Sociologia da infancia.