ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to raise issues for discussion in the Action Group on Early Childhood Education at ICME-6. I was asked to discuss the problem of teacher education with regard to aspects of the environment that should influence the preservice and in-service programs. Although initially I intended to discuss this topic more generally, I have decided to use the problems of the Brazilian educational system to raise the issues that I consider of fundamental importance to this discussion. Thus, I begin with a description of the Brazilian scenario of early childhood education. Subsequently, issues about teacher education will be raised focusing on the reality of Brazil. With some variations, a similar scenario applies to all of Latin America. Countries with traditionally strong and universal school systems, like Argentina, Chile, and Uraguay, bear more similarities with Brazilian and other countries’ private systems accessible to the upper middle classes. But by and large the scenario presented here can be considered applicable to the majority of Latin America.
