Development of gestural language in childhood: how is it addressed in the guidelines proposed in documents that control kindergarten education in Chile?

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the sufficiency and relevance of the knowledge, competence, skills and pedagogical guidelines for the implementation of the gesture in interactions with infants, given in three ministerial documents that ensure the quality of education in Chile. Of the documents were extracted the given guidelines that give an account of gestural language and were analyzed with different sources. The results point out that, although they are appropriate, they are not enough to determine that educators in training and professional educators can implement them in their interactions. Based on these results, it is concluded that the institutions in charge of the initial teacher education must guarantee the minimal guidelines given from the ministry of education. To contribute to this necessity, this research provides suggestions of research and strategies for the implementation of gestural language in interactions with infants.