Abstract

This article presents partial results of a larger research project that inquired into curriculum narrowing, as an expression of the schoolification of early childhood education (ECE) in Chile. We employed a sequential mixed-methods design to examine which learning areas prescribed in the Chilean national curriculum for ECE were addressed during one school day in 22 classrooms serving 4- and 5-year-olds (each with an average of 32 children), as well as the amount of time allocated to each learning area established in the national ECE curriculum. Data were collected through video recordings of each classroom during a full school day, which served as the observation instrument. For the qualitative phase, we conducted content analysis; for the quantitative phase, we performed a mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA). Our findings revealed that ECE teachers in the observed classrooms covered the eight prescribed learning areas. However, the time that they allocated to each area was highly unbalanced. In particular, the aggregated time allocated to verbal language and mathematical thinking in classrooms accounted for approximately half of the school day, to the detriment of the other six learning areas. Findings are discussed in the light of children's holistic development, and policies.