Original article

Integrated early childhood care: conception for its achievement

0000-0002-6708-0792Aramys María Torres Ulacia^{1  *} 

¹ Universidad de Ciego de Ávila Máximo Gómez Báez. Filial Universitaria Municipal Bolivia. Cuba.

ABSTRACT

The article deals with how to establish the relationships between the nursery school, the preschool grade in primary schools and the Educate your child program, to improve the work of educational agents, while organizing the educational process. The aim of the work is to present a theoretical-methodological conception that enables the articulation between the modalities of attention to the child of early childhood and is specified in revealing the relationships between the components that make up Early Childhood, which is distinguished by offering the design of the interrelation of the personal and organizational components for the solution of the problems that are manifested in different work scenarios. The foundations of the socio-critical approach are assumed, which enables the use of participatory action research as a fundamental method. The main methods of the theoretical level were applied: historical logical, synthetic analytical, inductive-deductive, structural systemic and as empirical methods: observation, interview, survey, modeling, documentary analysis and triangulation of sources. In addition to the percentage calculation and qualitative data analysis for the comparison and interpretation of the results obtained in educational practice, the research was able to modify the performance of the educational agents involved in the educational process, and from their joint action to solve or mitigate the effects of the shortcomings that occur in practice in the modalities of early childhood care through institutional and non-institutional channels.

Key words: your child, First childhood Intersectoriality; educational process

Introduction

In recent years in Latin America and Europe, social evolution has led to the predominance of a dual system, in which early childhood programs are differentiated according to their objectives and recipients, focusing primarily on the custody and care of children, or to more specifically educational objectives.

The educational systems of various Latin American countries (Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil) show that the initial and preschool education curriculum is organized according to the two modes of education: institutional and non-institutional; In the case of Cuba, both modalities have common objectives given the stage of development, with similar contents, based on the theoretical and methodological principles that place the child at the center of the educational process, thus eliminating the break that is frequently establishes among these early childhood care modalities (^{Mayol, M. Marzonetto G. and Quiroz, A, 2020}; ^{Marzonetto, G., 2019}; ^{Morán, C., 2018}; ^{UNICEF-LACRO, 2017}).

It assumes that the modalities for the care of children from zero to six years old in Cuba make up a dialectical unit where both are needed and complement each other. The institutional modality refers to systematic education centers, nursery schools, and preschool classrooms in primary schools; The non-institutional is carried out in the communities and in the homes, through the family, with the implementation and monitoring of the Community Social Care program called Educate your child, which is conceived on an intersectoral and community basis and is put into practice with the decisive participation of the family, which carries out activities to stimulate the integral development of the boys and girls included in this age group.

In the results of the applied control system and, through the balance of early childhood, the methodological help visits, the comprehensive inspections of the educational process, as well as the monitoring applied in the Ciego de Ávila province, and in the experience of the researcher, deficiencies such as:

In the institutional modality:

• Educational activities (joint activities) that are planned with families in children's institutions do not develop interest and satisfaction in parents. The preparation that the family receives to continue the educational process at home is insufficient.

In the non-institutional mode:

• Qualitative differences are evidenced in the development of children in the intellectual sphere. They are withdrawn and need more levels of help to carry out tasks. Limitations in the methodological treatment of the contents of the development areas by the educational agents who impart the joint activity.

It is important to highlight that the articulation between both modalities of early childhood care is significant for improving the care of children from zero to six years of age, taking into account that children go from one care modality to another, throughout the years the whole stage. During the first year of life, all boys and girls are cared for by the non-institutional modality. If the mother is a worker, they go on to the institutional modality until she maintains this condition; otherwise, they return to the non-institutional modality and, in the sixth year of life, considering the area where they live, they are cared for by the institutional or non-institutional modality. In addition, there are differences in the personnel who work in them, so in this sense both modalities have strengths that can affect the efficient development of the educational process.

The studies carried out by ^{Siverio, A. (1993});^{Franco, O. (2011}); Information System on Educational Trends in Latin America ^{(SITEAL) (2019)};^{World Association of Early Childhood Educators (2017)} among others, about the importance and main characteristics of the articulation process between preschool and the subsequent stage.^{Pérez, I. (1998}), ^{Martínez, F. (2004}a) outline aspects that must be considered so that early childhood care modalities are interrelated in order to increase the preparation of all those who educate.

The children's center can and should maintain a close link with the non-institutional early childhood modality.^{Martínez, F. (2004}a, p. 163) considers that it is one of the ways that the children's center has of projecting itself towards the community and argues that the parents themselves of the center can volunteer for the task of educating in a different but equivalent to the institutional modality.

The authors ^{Gutiérrez Duarte, Socorro Alonso, and Ruiz León, Mara (2018}) refer that children's centers are the ideal place that guarantees early stimulation. However, the findings confirm that not only infant centers provide the integral development of the infant; the social, economic and cultural context where the child develops generates stimuli to favor said development (^{Piñeiro, R. and Díaz, T., 2017}).

The shortcomings that exist in practice and limitations in theory affect the forms of interaction and mutual influences of early childhood education and development; because, the system of pedagogical influences is organized into two care modalities that differ in the ways, methods and approaches in which they are implemented in educational practice, without taking advantage of the potential that each care modality contributes to solve existing problems.

The objective of the work is to present a theoretical-methodological conception that makes possible the articulation between the modalities of attention to the child of early childhood.

Materials and methods

For this research, a unit of study is selected a population made up of 61 educational agents, who constitute the Participatory Action Research Group of the present study. This population is broken down as follows: 24 teachers from the "Heroic Guerrillas" Children's Circle, 12 preschool teachers, seven full-time promoters, 14 members of the coordinating groups, four of the municipal coordinating group and 10 of the popular councils of the Educate your child program and four methodologists from the Municipal Education Office.

The research assumes the socio-critical approach that makes it possible to assess the problems that arise in the early childhood educational process and, based on them, analyze the possible actions that must be developed so that the care modalities articulate and use the potentialities that they consciously develop. For this, Participatory Action Research is used, by uniting theory and practice in a process where educational agents are involved in the search for solutions through collective reflection and dialectically combining quantitative and qualitative methods, techniques and procedures.

The historical-logical method was used to systematize the theory related to early childhood: antecedents, actuality and projection; in addition, it promoted knowledge about the evolution and development of the relationships between the care modalities and the cooperative activity of the agents for the attention to the educational process.

The systemic-structural system was used to establish the relationships between the new points of view of the conception and made possible the structuring of the articulation process, the organization of work in the different contexts, the roles assumed by the participants at each moment and the paths adopted to integrate these actions into the educational process.

The modeling allowed the Participatory Action Research group to represent the organization of the articulation process between the early childhood care modalities, based on the new point of view presented by the researcher.

The analytical-synthetic was used by the Participatory Action Research group throughout the investigative process, in the analysis of the sources, the determination of the theoretical foundations on the articulation process and its contextualization in the work developed by the care modalities of early childhood, in the conformation of the theoretical elements from the synthesis of this information, in the interpretation of the results and in the determination of the partial and final conclusions.

Participant observation was used throughout the research process, which allowed obtaining information about the conditions and characteristics of the educational process in both care modalities and revealing the behavior and behavior patterns of each of the educational agents.

The documentary analysis was used in the study of three groups of documents: the first related to priorities, details and circular letters of MINED; the second with the educational programs of both modalities and the third with the annual, methodological and action plans prepared in the territory. It made it possible to determine regularities in the planning and organization of the early childhood educational process.

The survey was applied to the municipal director of Education, the promoters, the teachers, the members of the municipal coordinating group and the popular council to obtain criteria on how the articulation between the modalities of early childhood care is manifested and to reach a consensus the starting point and the successive progressive approaches towards the conformation of the theoretical-methodological conception.

The interview was carried out with the municipal director of Education, the promoters, the teachers, the members of the municipal coordinating group and the popular council who work in the institutions for early childhood, which made it possible to obtain evaluative criteria on the relationship that is established between the institutional and non-institutional modality of early childhood.

The source triangulation procedure was used to collect data from different angles to compare and control them with each other. A crossover control between various sources was carried out; evaluators, at different times and spaces to reveal the transformations achieved and the projective technique of completing sentences to assess the level of satisfaction of the educational agents who participate in both modalities of early childhood care in the implementation of the articulation to solve the problems of educational practice with the use of the potential of both modalities.

In addition, the percentage calculation and qualitative data analysis were carried out for the comparison and interpretation of the results obtained in educational practice. It starts from the socio-critical approach and Participatory Action Research is assumed, because it allows creating the necessary space to build the theoretical component and improve educational practice. The use of this method has been confirmed by its cognitive and transformative functions; At the same time that it produces knowledge, it links it with social action and not only generates new knowledge for the researcher, but also for the subjects involved in the process of change that the transformative processes must materialize.

In this process, the didactic transmission of knowledge does not make sense, but rather learning through search and investigation. The living knowledge that results from that activity is directly translated into action. In this way the relationship between knowing and doing is restructured and the educational agents who participate in the early childhood educational process are placed in the hands of both production and use of knowledge.

Results

Evaluating the state of the relationships that are established between the early childhood care modalities as part of the articulation between the two, required the use of key informants, the application of two surveys, six interviews, 16 activities of the Coordinating Group were observed of the Educate your child program (municipal meeting, training for homologous promoters and visit to non-formal groups in Popular Councils) and the analysis of six types of documents related to the planning and execution of actions and activities in early childhood .

The comprehensive analysis of the diagnostic instruments by the working group made it possible to specify the potentialities and needs that are manifested to establish the articulation between the early childhood care modalities, which coincide with the results of the methodological help visits and the inspections carried out at the different work scenarios.

When analyzing the survey that was applied to the methodologists, municipal director of Education, promoters, teachers, members of the coordinating group, it was found that in relation to the definition by the different levels, of the interrelation between the modalities of attention of the first childhood, 26 of the respondents, representing 77%, report not being clear about it, because despite being described in the manual "For you promoter", that the nursery school is the training center of the Educate your child program, It is not exactly defined what actions and / or activities the institution will develop in this regard and what position the non-institutional modality will assume. Respondents from the nursery school and the coordinating group of the Popular Council are the ones with the greatest limitations.

Three of the seven promoters of the Educate your child program, which represents 42.8%, identify some spaces that can be used to promote articulation between early childhood care modalities, but they were unable to identify which processes can be developed in these spaces, or how they would be organized. The most identified spaces are related to training (from Intersectoriality) with the participation of teachers in the meetings of the Basic Work Group of the Ministry of Public Health, to train the family doctor and nurse, integrated visit of the teachers of the National Institute of Sports and Recreation and teachers of the second cycle of the early childhood educational level, to the childcare consultation to carry out practical activities with the doctors in the preparation of the family for the first year of life.

In order to obtain information on what has been established for the interrelation of early childhood care modalities, we started from the analysis of normative and methodological documents prepared by the Ministry of Education, which have created the bases to guide and organize the entire process of the early childhood education; These include priorities for different school years, details for these priorities, documents, brochures, resolutions and circular letters issued.

The action plans developed for the Educate Your Child program are very general and formal. Over the course of six months, no adjustments or corrections had been made; they were kept with the tasks conceived by the coordinating group at the beginning of the school year, which shows poor mastery of the particularities of the educational process by the members of the coordinating group. With the exception of the training actions conceived for the preparation of the preschool teachers, there is no evidence of the planning of actions related to the articulation with the institutional modality.

In the annual and monthly plan that is elaborated in the nursery schools, in the methodological preparation actions for the teachers, the full-time promoters of the Educate your child program and the preschool teachers are included, but specific topics of the institutional educational process and the Educate your child program is not addressed in depth as a non-institutional modality, so it can be argued that there is no evidence of a dynamic in the relationship between both modalities of early childhood care.

In the education program that is intended for the learning of children from zero to six years of age in the institutional modality, it is evident that each of the areas of knowledge and development is made explicit in the different cycles, and its contents must be developed throughout the Preschool stage to meet the objectives.

The non-institutional modality uses an interdisciplinary pedagogical program that is presented in a collection of nine brochures that expose, in addition to the general aims and objectives for each age period, the activities for the development of movements, language, and intelligence, from the socio-affective sphere, habits of social behavior, hygienic-sanitary, nutrition and health in addition to the achievements that the little ones must achieve at the end of the year of life.

There is a marked difference in the number of development achievements that are proposed in both programs, in those related to the non-institutional modality; important actions that serve as a basis for the work carried out by the family are omitted. This situation constitutes a regularity that can be mitigated through the articulation between both care modalities, through the cooperative and coordinated work of both early childhood care modalities.

It was found that in the prioritized objectives of the Ministry of Education for the different courses, the development of intersectoral activities in which a working relationship is inferred between both care modalities is inferred, but they do not have a comprehensive approach that fosters an efficient and effective relationship between the nursery school, the preschool grade in elementary schools and the Educate your child program.

In the details for the improvement of the educational process (^{Cáceres Suárez, Y. and Benavides Perera, Z. (2019}), ^{Cuba. Ministerio de Educación, 2017}) it could be seen that actions are indicated that merit cooperative development among the three components that make up the early childhood care modalities, for the continuous improvement of knowledge, basic and specialized skills, which would allow a better performance of the responsibilities and functions of those who participate in the process (^{Alfonso Amaro, Y.; Carreño Ortega, D; Marcaida Pérez, Y., 2019}).

During the observation of different processes and activities that take place in early childhood, with the assistance of educational agents, seven observers, representing 100%, state that the relationship between educational agents generally manifests itself in the same modality, only the promoters of the popular councils are involved in the process of relating to all educational agents.

Even though 83.6% of the observers coincide in pointing out that there is evidence among educational agents a favorable expectation for the development of cooperative actions to solve the problems of practice in the educational process, it is evident that educational agents disagree with the analyzes and Suggestions that are made from a modality different from yours, since the potentialities that both modalities develop to improve the process are not used.

In the interview with the four early childhood methodologists, the elements that characterize the early childhood educational process were studied in depth and were not entirely clear after analyzing the data obtained in the observations that were developed; In them, it was found that in the nursery school there is no clarity about the mothers who aspire to the places offered in the institution, since there is a lack of a communication mechanism that allows the board of directors to manage these dates.

The in-depth interview with key informants made it possible to confirm the reality of the scientific problem, the causes that provoke it and to consider, from a new point of view, the design of a theoretical-methodological conception for the articulation between the care modalities of the early childhood care. This was applied individually to the educational agents of each of the components that make up the early childhood care modalities that fulfill this role, during the development of the participatory action research phases.

100% of the key informants coincide in stating that the cause that affects the definition of the interrelation between early childhood care modalities is in the first place the lack of systematicity and unity of criteria about the actions and activities that are carried out they must develop in each component that makes up early childhood.

100% of the interviewees considered it pertinent to take advantage of the potential offered by the joint activity and the home visit in both care modalities to develop actions that allow the articulation between them. 57.1%, who represent four key informants, raised the need to use the days of the open doors in the children's institution, with greater intentionality, to show the community the particularities and characteristics of the processes of satisfaction of basic needs that must be empower from home and in the children's institution.

However, it can be seen that the suggestions in this regard were less helpful, which denotes limitations in the interviewees in the conception of actions to achieve articulation between early childhood care modalities.

The interview carried out with the 36 teachers of the institutional modality allowed us to delve into the causes that affect the relationship between the modalities of early childhood care. In these results it was evidenced that, even though as part of the study plan of the career and in the modules of the master's degree, topics related to the educational process of the non-institutional modality and about the Educate your child program were taught, the knowledge of teachers about this modality is insufficient.

When interviewing the 25 educational agents who are directly related to the non-institutional modality, it was found that to solve the insufficiencies of the educational practice, the potentialities that the Intersectoriality offers are used, but direct help is never requested from the institutional modality. For this purpose, the promoters approach the institution to clarify doubts and then be able to explain them in the popular councils.

In an integrative and generalizing analysis of the results of the applied instruments, it can be seen that, in a general way, actions are not developed that allow the integration of educational influences to improve the educational process and the deficiencies diagnosed in the base survey are confirmed and follow-up. In addition, the educational agents correctly raised the possible causes that originate this situation and offered feasible alternatives for its solution, which allowed the interpretation and objective analysis of the information, which are summarized below:

Potentialities

Early childhood teachers with mostly university pedagogical training. The preparation of the family of the non-institutional modality to carry out educational activities at home. Teachers feel committed and willing to get involved in the transformations aimed at articulating with the non-institutional modality, in order to improve the educational process in both variants.

Need for a procedure to organize the early childhood educational process as a dynamic system, in which strategic articulation processes are mobilized between the early childhood care modalities and the use of the potentialities that both modalities possess to achieve the maximum possible development of early childhood children, regardless of the form of educational care in which they have been enrolled.

These needs were considered to be integrated into the structuring of the theoretical-methodological conception to enhance the articulation between the early childhood care modalities.

The structure of the theoretical-methodological conception includes in the theoretical component the new point of view, work scenarios, roles and relationships, while in the methodological component the system of workshops and the methodological procedures that must be considered are made explicit. Educational agents are involved in the articulation process between early childhood care modalities.

The theoretical component starts from the assumption that early childhood is distinguished from the rest of the educations because in order to achieve its end and meet its objectives it uses two care modalities, which in turn are made up of three components; the nursery school and the preschool grade in primary schools or kindergartens as an institutional modality and the Educate your child program as a non-institutional modality, which differ in their management structure, organizational forms and protagonism for the management and development of the educational process.

Since the generalization of the non-institutional modality in 1990, work has been done to improve the preparation of the family and the educational process, but from each of the care modalities or in its minimal expression from the components that make them up. The researcher proposes to approach the problem from another point of view:

• The articulation between the institutional and non-institutional modality, based on the potentialities that both develop, favors the work of educational agents to improve the early childhood educational process.

This new point of view guides the theoretical-methodological conception, to establish the articulation between the modalities of early childhood, which is manifested in the relationships between the educational agents of the nursery school, the preschool grade in primary schools and the Educate your child program.

The systematization carried out allowed us to take into consideration that the difficulties that constitute regularities in early childhood are manifested in the following work scenarios.

They belong to the non-institutional modality:

• Work of the Municipal Coordinating Group with the Coordinating Group of the Popular Council. In this scenario, the members of the group train their counterparts and evaluate the actions conceived in the action plan for the implementation of the program at the base, considering the diagnosis of the community. The key elements are the dissemination of the importance of the activities, the mobilization of families to attend the sessions that are scheduled, the preparation of the staff, the intervention in the organization and execution of activities (educational, cultural, sports and recreational) .

• Work of promoters in the communities. In this scenario, the promoters characterize the community with the census of the population from zero to six years of age, the extension of the territory, the sociocultural level of the population, as well as the number of executors it has and the way in which they are to join the task (full or part time). The population census will make it possible to know at what ages the children are most concentrated in order to distribute and advise the volunteer executors. It is also an element to take into account the way in which the houses are distributed in the territory: if they are grouped or if they are dispersed.

• Work of the volunteer executors. In this work scenario, the executors inform the family, in a brief and simple way, what activities they are going to carry out with their children and what aspects of the child's development are favored by these: if it is language, perception, the strength of their movements, or another; It also calls their attention to the means that they are going to use and explains how they should participate and how they should support them. In these actions, the executor, in an entertaining and motivating way, develops with the children the contents that he had planned, among which the game cannot be absent.

They belong to the institutional modality:

• The work with the circle or school council for the preschool grade in primary schools, which enables the active participation of the different organizations, agencies and institutions related to educational work in the community and has as its purpose the link between the institution and the community to ensure the unity of educational influences and raise the responsibility of parents in the education of their children.

• Family education work, which encourages the preparation of parents in aspects related to the way in which they can and should stimulate the integral development of their children, making them adopt an attitude of cooperation and active participation and support for tasks and objectives of the institution.

In order to achieve dynamics in the articulation between the early childhood care modalities, spaces for positive encounters were generated between the members of the working group. This allowed considering what type of communication or links were needed in both modalities and to design the behavior to follow.

It was necessary to highlight the roles defined in the literature for the work of the educational agents who participate in each modality. However, for cooperative work, specific actions are defined only for preschool teachers, as executors of the four to five-year-old group and for the full-time promoter, the coordination of training actions with the director of the nursery school when deems it necessary.

Therefore, the research proposes that the roles of:

• Coordinator of actions: it will be carried out by all the educational agents whose functions include the responsibility of organizing and directing the educational process in one modality or another and are in charge of organizing the actions that will be developed in the work scenarios, based on the analysis of the problems that are evident in the educational process and the potentialities of the components that make up the early childhood care modalities.

• Facilitator or modeler: it is assumed by the educational agents designated to develop the workshops in which doubts are clarified, procedures are explained, ideas, judgments and evaluations are issued or training is given to the rest of the educational agents, taking into account the problems addressed. These roles are the basis of the relationships that were proposed at conception.

The articulation between the care modalities is specified in the relationships between the personal components of the educational process, which constitute a heterogeneous group due to the particularities of early childhood.

The relationship between them presupposes: the direction and organization of group work; with the aim of achieving the coordination and integration of the efforts of all the members and their interrelation, which allow them to act jointly in the diversity of their affairs and interests, and assume as a starting point the diagnosis for the projection of the activities in the institution, the action plan of the coordinating group and the training of socializing agents. In addition, it contributes to specifying the educational policy of preserving the unity of the system to guarantee quality in massive conditions.

The relationships that are established from the personal components of the educational process and the planning of actions and activities from the organization are the fundamental basis of the articulation between the early childhood care modalities. To this end, three types of relationships were designed between the components that make up the educational level: relationships of cooperation, coordination and subordination.

The cooperative relationships between early childhood care modalities are partially described by authors such as ^{Pérez, M. (2012)}, ^{López, J. and Siverio, A. (2005}), ^{Martínez, F. (2004}b), but they are manifested in only one sense: from the institutional modality to the non-institutional modality. As part of the cooperative relationship already described in the theory, it is necessary to develop the following actions by the non-institutional modality:

Participate in work sessions where topics related to community work, family preparation through joint activity and intersectoral work is taught. Provide joint demonstration activities to preschool educators and teachers who do not act as implementers of the Educate Your Child program, so that they take ownership of the work algorithm of this type of activity. Facilitate the characterization of the communities that make up the Popular Councils, to evaluate the social situations that arise there in order to redesign the community work of the institution.

The coordination relationships begin with the planning of a meeting in which the educational agents of both modalities participate and it is developed with a quarterly frequency, in which the problems that are manifested in the different work scenarios of the educational process are evaluated and that affect this to determine the potentialities with which they have to solve them.

This coordination meeting takes place in two moments: one, where the problems that are manifested in the work scenarios are exposed and another where the type of activity that will be developed, who will execute it, when and where it is coordinated. Actions to be developed by both modalities of care in the first moment: explanation of the main problems and the causes that originate them. Declare the actions undertaken to resolve them and the results obtained in their management.

Actions to be carried out by both care modalities in the second moment: analyze the results presented in the reports presented and assess whether they have solved similar situations in one or another modality and what they have to contribute to the solution of the problems that arise. Present their ideas and assimilate them in a conscious, active, critical and reflective way, the approaches and suggestions. Prepare actions based on the potentialities they have, the personnel who will participate in their execution and the deadlines in which the results obtained in this intervention will be evaluated again.

The subordination relationships of the teachers, with the volunteer executors and vice versa, are oriented depending on what was agreed in the coordination meetings. These actions correspond to the diagnosis and the social aspiration to which it is arrived. Actions to be carried out by both types of care: exchange of the main shortcomings revealed in the work carried out; develop didactic-methodological topics, taking into account the particularities of the care modality in question, the shortcomings revealed in the different work settings and the needs of the participants; teach the correct use of effective methods and procedures to achieve the objectives; the didactic relationship between the activities carried out by the factors and the pedagogical activity typical of early childhood.

The methodological component manifests itself from the holding of workshops as a form of interactive work and an ideal resource to generate educational acts within active pedagogy and didactics, which made possible the joint work of the group, the tasks that tend to the integral development of capacities higher order intellectuals such as analysis, synthesis, conceptualization, information management, systemic thinking, critical attitude and meta cognition.

The satisfactory interaction of the educational agents was obtained by considering the development of cooperative activities that solve the problems of educational practice; in this sense, their organization was flexible based on the diagnosis and characterization that both care modalities developed, as well as the intersectoral activities that are planned.

The implementation of the actions generated continuous changes in the mode of action of the educational agents of the nursery school, the preschool grade and the Educate your child program, by assuming coordinated work between the early childhood care modalities. The emergence of cooperative work, taking into account the potential of both modalities, was the premise and result of the attention to the dynamics of the articulation and made evident modifications produced in the care of the child of the first year of life, to guarantee a process of adaptation quality, the fulfillment of the home life schedule, the characterization of the family life system and the preparation of the parents.

The main strengths during the research focused on: the favorable disposition towards exchange and discussion among educational agents; the realization of collective reflection to solve the problems of educational practice; the cooperation of the main leaders of the agencies, organizations and the Municipal Directorate of Education throughout the process.

The data referring to the results of the educational process presuppose that the articulation between the early childhood care modalities produced improvements in the quality of the educational process, which contributed to confirm the new point of view rose.

Discussion

In early childhood, the term articulation or relationship is present from the foundations that govern educational policy for early childhood; however, they acquire greater significance in the more general pedagogical conceptions and in the guidelines for the structuring and methodological orientation of the educational process. In the active system of structured principles to conduct the educational process in early childhood, the following stand out: the integration of activity and communication in the educational process, the linking of the institution with the family and the systematization of the different components of the educational process (^{Ríos, I., 2012}).

These principles can be considered as generalizers of the articulation between both modalities. They unequivocally evidence the close unity that must exist between the influences that boys and girls receive at home, the nursery school or in the preschool grade of primary school, in order to achieve the maximum possible development of all their possibilities, according to the particularities of the age and the competition of all.

The principle referring to the

"… systematization of the different components of the educational process states that the expression of this systematization is materialized in different forms of relationship: between the different areas of development for the same cycle or year of life. In the same area of development, in a given cycle or for the entire preschool stage. Between the different cycles of the entire stage. Between the culmination of the preschool stage and the beginning of primary education…" (^{Martínez, F., 2004}b. P.64).

The author considered, when analyzing the principle, that its content does not exhaust the intentions of its name, but this is not the object of transformation of this research, so it agrees with the group of authors on the importance of these relationships to achieve an educational process with efficiency, which enhances the fulfillment of the end and the objectives of the stage. It is valid to emphasize that by not considering the relationship between early childhood care modalities, a separation is created between the institutional and non-institutional modalities, because even when both have specific functions and modes of action, they are aimed at achieving the same purpose: to promote the maximum possible development of each boy and girl.

The proposed relationships set the guidelines to offer an integrative and harmonious vision of the institutional and non-institutional modalities that make up early childhood. It facilitates intersectoral coordination and training of all the factors that participate in the early childhood educational process. It expands the way of conceiving cooperative work between early childhood care modalities so that the purpose and objectives of early childhood are met.

In addition, they consolidate the fulfillment of the educational objectives within the institutions using the skills developed by the executing families and the educational agents and agencies that participate as promoters of the importance and particularities of the early childhood educational process.

In relation to the above, authors such as ^{Pérez, I. (2001)};^{Siverio, AM (2007});^{Martínez, F. (2004}a. Page 165);^{Roselló Aldana, Y., Hidalgo Rosabal, Y., and Montero Silveira, E. (2020});^{Rodríguez, A, C. Turón, CO (2007}), among others, issue criteria related to the benefits that the articulation between early childhood care modalities bring to the education system and to the child in this stage of life in a general way , to guarantee efficiency in the educational process.^{Martínez, F. (s.a)} and ^{López, J. (2001}) state that the nursery school constitutes the first institution of the school system and, as an educational institution, must guarantee that the educational process that takes place in it has the organization to ensure its efficient assimilation and must maintain close ties with the community.

^{Martínez, F. (2004}a. P. 165) refers that the children's center can and should maintain a close link with the non-institutional modality of early childhood in different ways, from facilitating areas and premises that are not in use to develop activities of this alternative until participating directly in the training.^{Pérez, I.et al., (1998}) defend the idea that the nursery school serves as a training center for the Educate your child program.

The author agrees with the need to establish relationships between care modalities. In the new conception, the contexts in which the training is applied are revealed, taking into account the potentialities of the different educational factors and agents for the training and development of early childhood children.

The approaches related to the foundations of early childhood allow the articulation between the care modalities to occupy a place in the system of principles established to conduct the educational process in early childhood, aimed at enhancing the role of educational agents, at the time consolidating the community work of the institution. Each care modality has its own structures and characteristics for working with the family and early childhood children; the articulation between them plays a decisive role so that the infant receives a coherent system of influence in its transition from one modality to another.

The theoretical-methodological conception developed for the articulation between early childhood care modalities stands as an important approach for integrated care at this stage of life, as it is sustained by three types of relationships: cooperation, coordination and subordination, in which the roles and procedures assumed by educational agents in the different work scenarios to solve the problems of educational practice are evidenced.

The evaluations obtained in relation to the effects of the conception in the educational practice aim to evaluate the change of mentality in the members of the work group as very adequate and the positive results that the articulation between the nursery school-Educate your child program preschool child-grade exercised in the educational process were revealed. The interactive workshops were corroborated as an effective way to articulate the early childhood care modalities.

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Received: January 04, 2021; Accepted: March 23, 2021

^*Autor para correspondencia. E-Mail: [e-mail]

La autora declara no tener conflicto de intereses.

La autora gestionó la información, revisó la redacción del manuscrito y la versión finalmente remitida.