Pedagogical strengthening for the harmonious transition of children from the perspective of social inclusion

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Fortalecimiento pedagógico para el tránsito armónico de los niños y niñas desde la inclusión social

Angela Bibiana Vásquez Vidarte

Ayle yoleth Katerin Hurtado Rivera

Victor Alfonso Quezada Murcia

ABSTRACT

The research allowed through a pedagogical strategy the strengthening of harmonious transitions from early childhood to preschool education in the municipality of Timaná Huila, due to the few pedagogical practices carried out within the harmonious transition process, action research was implemented with a qualitative approach; 10 children, 2 educational agents of the CDI and 2 preschool teachers were chosen for the population under study. The information was collected through participant observation by means of the field diary and the semi-structured interview, the analysis of the information was carried out by means of the hermeneutic technique which allowed acquiring results taking into account investigative phenomena, within the findings it was found little knowledge on the part of the study population of the education regulations and concepts of harmonic transitions, also it was evidenced that the process of harmonic transition is carried out in a short time; during the development of the research the following conclusions were obtained: strengthening of pedagogical practices, by means of early childhood activities such as art, games, literature and exploration of the environment; likewise, the pedagogical strategy of the research was established within the pedagogical projects of the CDIs, to be implemented in future years.

Key words: Early Childhood Education, Vulnerability, social inclusion, preschool, learning

RESUMEN

La investigación permitió mediante una estrategia pedagógica el fortalecimiento de las transiciones armónicas de la primera infancia a la educación preescolar del municipio de Timaná Huila, por las pocas prácticas pedagógicas efectuadas dentro del proceso de transición armónica, se implementó la investigación acción con un enfoque cualitativo; para la población objeto de estudio se escogieron 10 niños y niñas, 2 agentes educativas del CDI y 2 docentes del grado preescolar. La recolección de la información se realizó por medio de la observación participante mediante el diario de campo y la entrevista semiestructurada, el análisis de la información se efectuó por medio de la técnica hermenéutica la cual permitió adquirir resultados teniendo en cuenta fenómenos investigativos, dentro de los hallazgos se encontró poco conocimiento por parte de la población estudio de la normativa de educación y conceptos de las transiciones armónicas, además se evidenció que el proceso de tránsito armónico se realiza en poco tiempo; durante el desarrollo de la investigación se obtuvieron las siguientes conclusiones: fortalecimiento de las prácticas pedagógicas, por medio de las actividades propias de la primera infancia el arte, el juego, la literatura y la exploración del medio, así mismo se estableció la estrategia pedagógica de la investigación dentro de los proyectos pedagógicos de los CDI, para implementarla en vigencias futuras.

Palabras clave: Educación Inicial, Vulnerabilidad, Inclusión social, preescolar, Aprendizaje

Introduction

The research carried out through a pedagogical strategy that allowed the harmonious transition from early childhood to preschool education in Colombia through a governmental entity, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) with a service unit called Child Development Center in the regions and an educational institution especially involved in the municipality of Timaná Huila Colombia, UNESCO (2023) states that the educational trajectory postulates that by 2030 all children should be linked to early childhood services in their countries that allow them to develop social and cognitive skills through activities that guarantee access to quality primary education.
Now, taking a tour of Latin America in Nicaragua these processes of harmonious transitions are recognized in the framework of the early education model, for the Child Development MEIDI (2018) are conceived a change in the states of mind from early education to first grade. In Colombia these harmonic transitions are considered a transition favoring between boys and girls of the different modalities, this has special care in the research conducted because the ICBF corresponds to a context applied from early education.
From the research “Educational transitions in childhood: conceptions of teachers in Chile and Colombia” according to Soto and Zapata (2021) in the results it is evident that the conceptions of teachers regarding educational transitions are similar, they emphasize the emotional well-being of children, another similarity found in both countries is the need to design strategies that are articulated to the curriculum, favoring learning and avoiding desertion or repetition at the end of the first basic year.
In Colombia, every year the process of harmonious transition of girls and boys attending the different ICBF care modalities is carried out, established as institutional and family as stipulated in the Colombian regulations in the guiding guide for harmonious transition (2019) the CDIs are one of the models of institutional care, defined as Child Development Centers, which guarantee initial education, care and nutrition to children from 2 years and up to 4 years 11 months 29 days, favoring the integral development of the vulnerable population due to different factors.
According to Perez (2020), he establishes that teachers of grade zero and first grade have a very minimal concept of harmonic transitions; therefore, it is important to provide training to teachers on the importance and consequences of not carrying out a good transition process with children. That is why the question is generated: How to promote the harmonious transition between early childhood from the Child Development Center to preschool education in an educational institution in the municipality of Timaná Huila?
The purpose of the research was based on the development of a pedagogical strategy that allowed the harmonious transition between early childhood from the Child Development Center to preschool education in an educational institution located in the municipality of Timaná Huila, through the recognition of the components or elements that made possible the harmonic transit in early childhood to preschool education then a pedagogical strategy that strengthened the harmonic transit between early childhood was implemented, to finally establish a pedagogical strategy that promotes the strengthening of the harmonic transit between early childhood of the Child Development Center to preschool education of an educational institution in Timaná Huila.
The pedagogical strategy applied, which was divided into three phases: sensitization, familiarization and assessment of the process, in which the guiding activities were linked, defined according to Bejarano, et al. (2019) as those spaces in which adults interact with early childhood to enrich development through play, literature, art and exploration of the environment, which are fundamental tools to enrich development and meaningful experiences enabling interaction with others, promoting affective bonding, communication and socioemotional learning thus contributing to comprehensive development. 
The study emphasizes research on inclusive education in the framework of early education and on the transition between children in vulnerable conditions in early childhood, who will enter formal education. According to the guide for the targeting of users of early childhood services, Congress of the Republic of Colombia (2007) Law 1176 of 2007, December 27, article 24, mentions that the targeting process allows social spending to establish quotas for the poorest and most vulnerable population, which allows mitigating poverty and inequalities through inclusion and equity.
The research was developed according to the theory of early education, Egido (2000) considers it as the period in which care and education is provided to children in their first years of life, established through different modalities of care for the stage from birth to six years of age. It is very important to promote the implementation of harmonious transition in early education, since it allows children to be autonomous, feel secure in their new environment and strengthen emotional bonds. Likewise, it is necessary to implement pedagogical strategies that respect the rhythms, interests, needs and potential of children as a fundamental right. 
The theory of harmonious transition, according to Palmero (2008) as cited in Álvarez and Quintero (2022), is defined as the gradual and significant progression of learning, where new knowledge is linked to the student's previous cognitive structure, so that learning is integral, this process facilitates the transition of children from early education to the transition grade, in order to improve learning and development, and to avoid dropout and repetition. The harmonious transition involves children, families, teachers and educational agents in a protective, welcoming, inclusive, participatory and diverse environment.
The research was structured on the basis of the theory of social inclusion, which is a concept that refers to the ability of people to participate fully in the economic, political, cultural and social spheres. One of the authors who has contributed to the study of social inclusion is Kaztman (2001), who refers to the risk of falling into poverty or social exclusion due to the lack of assets or resources that allow households to take advantage of welfare opportunities. These assets may be physical, financial, human or social. He also states that social inclusion depends on the capacity of households to mobilize their assets and on the existence of a structure of opportunities that facilitates access to them.
The variables or categories in a research according to Hernández (2020) are the elements to be evaluated, the information or data that are collected with the purpose of responding to the research objectives; these variables must be clearly defined within the theoretical and methodological framework. For the realization of the emerging categories, the theories worked on during the research were taken as a reference, which were classified in the repetition of the words obtained during the semi-structured interview applied to the teachers and educational agents. 
The research has as its main concept early childhood for Castañeda and Mina (2016) as cited in Ramírez and Castro (2013) is considered as the stage of the life cycle that encompasses the growth of boys and girls from the moment of gestation to six years of age. Likewise, Ramírez and Castro (2013) mention the following stages in which the development and learning process takes place, from birth to two years of age children learn mainly through interaction with their families, from three to four years of age they begin a stage of socialization in which encounters are established outside the family environment and between four and six years of age the school stage begins in which knowledge is generated in a structured manner. 
It is worth noting that through these activities children know, understand and appropriate the world around them. Montaño et al. (2023) mention that early education at this stage is characterized by play, exploration and interaction, and aims to offer meaningful experiences that favor the cognitive, emotional, social and physical development of children. Meaningful learning is defined as the incorporation of new knowledge based on the student's previous cognitive structure, so that learning is relevant and permanent. 
The System for the Identification of Potential Beneficiaries of Social Programs (SISBEN) classifies the population according to their living conditions and economic resources, this classification is used to direct social investment and ensure that it reaches those who need it most, as referred to by the National Planning Department in Colombia. In the research, the SISBEN allows the identification of the population that participates in the exercise, due to the fact that for the research sample 10 children were chosen who are in the targeting criteria (group A extreme poverty population).
Within the normative framework of the research, we work with the law on childhood and adolescence code (2006), which aims to guarantee children and adolescents a full and harmonious development within a family nucleus and the community, enjoying love, happiness and understanding. Likewise, the recognition of equality and dignity, without any discrimination whatsoever, shall prevail. Taking into account the above, the law of the state policy for the comprehensive development of early childhood from zero to forever (2016) is established, which seeks to strengthen the recognition, protection and guarantee of the rights of pregnant women and children from zero to six years of age.
Similarly, in Article 5, early education is conceived as an intentional educational and pedagogical process, which is carried out in an orderly and systematic manner, through which children develop their skills and abilities through guiding activities; of course with the participation of the family as the central axis of the process (ley de la política de estado para el desarrollo integral de la primera infancia de cero a siempre, 2016). On the other hand, Article 13 establishes the important role of the Ministry of National Education, which mentions that it must implement actions to favor the harmonious transition of children from early childhood to preschool education (ley de la política de estado para el desarrollo integral de la primera infancia de cero a siempre, 2016).
The above is presented in order to continue the integral development in the preschool grade through pedagogical and recreational experience as indicated in article 14 (general law of education,1994). In this way, the fundamental right to education of children is guaranteed, as mentioned in Article 44, as a pillar that strengthens not only cognitive learning but also emotional, social, cultural and recreational aspects (Political Constitution of Colombia, 1991).

Materials and methods

The present research had a qualitative type approach, and a methodological design of action research was carried out, as mentioned by Pliego Carrasco, F. D. J. (2015, as cited in Robayo et al. 2017) aims, mainly, to promote social change, and transform reality, This approach promotes collaboration between researchers and research participants to achieve a common goal. The methodological design of action research counts on the active participation of the members of the educational community or interested group. One of the objectives of action research is precisely to understand the reality and the particular problems of a given context.
According to Tamayo and Tamayo (1997), the population is defined as the set of the phenomenon to be investigated, where it has a common peculiarity which is studied, providing initial data for the research. The research consisted of the 72 Child Development Centers (CDI) of the Department of Huila; of which 24 CDI are located in the southern part of the Department, among them is the CDI of the municipality of Timaná Huila, where 111 children in vulnerable conditions were attended, formed by a team of qualified human talent, who were responsible for planning and implementing each of the pedagogical activities.
Likewise, the Municipality of Timaná has one private educational institution and six public educational institutions, including the targeted educational institution located in the urban area. For the research sample as defined by Hernández et al. (2006 as cited in Pereira 2011), it is a small representative group of the study population. For this research, 10 children were chosen who had the targeting criteria of the Identification System of Potential Beneficiaries of Social Programs Sisbén (group A extreme poverty population), from the CDI who made the harmonious transition to the targeted educational institution, the process was accompanied by two educational agents and two teachers of the Educational Institution.
The present investigation used as an instrument the characterization of the children, as a tool which provided information on the particular conditions of each child, according to the instructions of the ICBF's socio-family characterization form, it refers that this tool consists of a module, which allowed the identification of needs and physical, social, cultural and family characteristics of the context where the users lived. Documentary review was also used, which allowed the collection, analysis and evaluation of relevant information related to the research; according to Guerrero, D. (2015) cited by Reyes and Carmona, (2020). They mention that the documentary review involves searching for sources such as: magazines, books, newspapers, scientific articles, among others; to perform the identification and analysis of data related to the current research. 
Likewise, participant observation was used as an instrument that allowed the researcher to participate in the development of the activities to observe behaviors and behaviors, through interaction with the participants in the execution of the didactic sequence. According to Kawulich (2005 as cited in Arias et al. 2022) this procedure is based on collecting information through participant observation in the activities developed, in order to obtain knowledge of the situations and to be used in the project.

Results

The results obtained from the documentary review made it possible to identify relevant information about the research and thus delineate the object of study, through the Internet search by means of Google Scholar, Google Scholar and the virtual library of the Corporación Universitaria Iberoamericana, for the consolidation of a theoretical basis, which allowed for greater clarity in the concepts and the identification of main and emerging categories.
Through the collection of information from the characterization form, it was possible to obtain true socio-family and economic aspects of the families or guardians of the targeted children. The identification of the vulnerability conditions of the families showed that the targeted families are in the Sisbén score range A1 - A5, corresponding to the extreme poverty group, 10% of the users are in group A1, 20% of the users are in group A2, 30% of the users are in group A3, 20% of the users belong to group A4 and finally 20% of the users are in group A5, as shown in the following figure:
In relation to the characterization of the children, the socioeconomic stratum of the families' homes shows that 80% of the families are in stratum I, showing a high percentage of vulnerability, and 20% of the families are in stratum II.
The results of the characterization show that most of the mothers are in charge of financially sustaining the household. Taking into account the above, it is notorious that within the households there is a degree of social and economic vulnerability due to the conditions of the Sisbén score, as a relevant factor of the extreme poverty that exists within the family contexts of the children.

A pedagogical strategy was implemented, divided into three fundamental phases for the implementation of the activities: awareness, familiarization, and assessment of the process, in which as the main instrument the information was recorded in a field diary where through observation it was possible to evidence that children, teachers, educational agents and families participated in the spaces, encouraging interaction and the development of social skills, guaranteeing the children that they can continue learning in an integral way when facing new challenges in preschool education; likewise the lack of knowledge of the articles of the political constitution proposed in the didactic sequence was evidenced. Within the field diary instrument, it became evident that in the activities proposed for the sensitization phase, instructions and respective procedures were generated in each of the activities to be developed, taking into account the established times; however, through the direct observation of the researchers, the lack of empowerment on the part of teachers, educational agents and families in the leadership of some activities was observed at times. 
During the development of the didactic sequence, it was possible to identify through a semi-structured interview different appreciations obtained from the teachers and educational agents where the great majority expressed the importance of the harmonic transition process to guarantee an integral and successful development; they also expressed that this process should continue to be carried out every year so that the children establish affective relationships with their classmates and teachers, developing different cognitive skills through a structured and planned transition. In addition, they value the work done by the researchers, which allowed them to enrich knowledge, discover new teaching methodologies, strengthen teamwork with families and create a new safe school environment where children are always the main protagonist.
Teacher training is essential to address the challenges of today's society, this training should not be improvised or casual, but should be raised as an essential element for all educational actors in the development of culture and humanity. Chaves and Martínez (2016) as cited in Reyes et al. (2021). In order for educational institutions to carry out the quality harmonic transit process, it is relevant a solid training that allows teachers to develop the pedagogical, methodological and didactic tools necessary to plan and carry out this significant process, guaranteeing children the opportunity to face the challenges present in the new school environment. 

Within the annual update of the pedagogical project of the CDI, it is established with the directive of the child development center to implement as a transversal project the didactic sequence developed in the research in order to continue generating significant processes to transform learning and development throughout life, guaranteeing a quality education for children in vulnerable conditions.

From the early childhood public policy, different programs are being addressed for the attention that allow a comprehensive development of children in the first years of life; In those processes, harmonious transition is one of the strategies for children to adapt to new educational contexts; however, it is currently observed that in educational institutions there are shortcomings on the part of preschool teachers in pedagogical practice, due to the lack of a focus on play, literature, art and exploration of the environment as fundamental tools for the learning and integral development of children, which generate barriers that may hinder harmonious transition. 
For this reason, the pedagogical strategy was implemented to strengthen the teaching practices and methodology of teachers and educational agents, allowing children to adapt to new educational environments, which promote security, social skills, autonomy, confidence and allow them to make decisions to face new challenges in an empathetic manner. 
Within the co-responsible institutions there is little articulation in providing training or accompaniment during the processes of harmonious transition of children; for this reason, within the pedagogical strategy, the familiarization phase was developed, which allowed the interaction between teachers, educational agents and families, adding significant experiences, fostering bonds of friendship, enriching mutual learning and knowledge, as well as continuous monitoring to identify weaknesses and thus strengthen harmonious transitions year after year.

Conclusions

In the development of this research work, pedagogical practices have been strengthened to achieve a harmonious transition, implementing early childhood activities such as games, art, literature and exploration of the environment, which are conceived as strategies that allow the comprehensive development of children; involving teachers, educational agents and families in order to generate awareness about the importance of these processes for adaptation, security and empathy in the new educational context; finally, positive results were obtained in the implementation of the pedagogical strategy, since such activities initially had no relevance within the methodologies in the teaching processes.
In relation to the normative from the articles of the political constitution of Colombia mentioned in the pedagogical strategy, it was identified that teachers, educational agents and families, do not have a full knowledge of them; something similar was identified in the concept and importance of harmonic transitions since they were not clear about these processes, however, after the implementation of the pedagogical strategy the target population through the interview, give an accurate answer about the importance of harmonic transit and the normative framework, deducing that it was possible to generate a broader and more conducive knowledge. 
By strengthening the pedagogical projects of the child development centers, this achieves or allows for a transcendence in the articulation of educational actors, but also of their context, leading to the generation of new educational strategies not contemplated in the formal field but that are part of the non-formal strategies or early childhood programs. 

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