PROFESSORES E AUXILIARES DE CRECHE: Refletindo sobre o currículo da Educação Infantil.

This article problematizes the tense ratio between teachers and class assistants. This legally established division of labor undermines the care-education binomial and has a considerable impact on the quality of early childhood work. It will be argued that there is an inseparability of these functions, as guided by the reference curriculum of Minas Gerais and all the guiding documents of early childhood education. This documental analysis aims to investigate the reference curriculum of Minas Gerais in order to point out its perspectives on caring and educating in early childhood education, underlining the roles of the teacher and the kindergarten assistant. The first part will present a brief overview of the history of early childhood education and its struggle for legitimacy as a stage of basic education. It will be studied the reality of teachers and kindergarten assistants in the southern municipality of Minas Gerais regarding the administrative division of labor will be examined, comparing with what the reference curriculum of Minas Gerais considers ideal for early childhood education. It is expected to find a direction of legislation to strengthen early childhood education as a right, where caring and educating are not based on philanthropy or welfare, but on public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]