A Educação Infantil vem se consolidando como o momento de entrada das crianças no sistema educacional e, portanto, como condição que altera as formas de participação no espaço público no início da vida. Com uma abordagem que compreende a experiência individual e coletiva no espaço institucional como experiência de constituição dos sujeitos, o que inclui as aprendizagens - de si, do outro e do mundo - no contexto de relações das crianças entre si e com os adultos, este artigo analisa as concepções de educadoras sobre a educação de meninos no contexto institucional. As informações construídas durante a pesquisa indicam que elas orientam-se por uma imagem de masculinidade que priva os meninos de maior contato corporal e afetivo e de experiências significativas de convivência e brincadeiras tidas como adequadas somente para as meninas.

Pre-School education, the first phase of elementary education in Brazil, has been slowly consolidating as the entry of Brazilian children in the educational system and as a condition that changes the children's way of participating in the public arena at the very beginning of life. The growing tendency of expanding pre-school education implies a transformation of the moments, places and ways of socializing children early in their lives. This article aims at analyzing the conceptions of pre-school teachers in regard to the education of boys in the institutional sphere. It is based on a standpoint that conceives both the individual as well as the collective experiences in the institutional space as the foundation of the individuals, which involves learning about the self, about others and about the world itself. This article argues that the educators' perceptions of the differences between boys and girls reflect social stereotypes related to gender relations and that the changes in the educational practices inside the schools, however, come into conflict with the teachers' broader social experiences, including those of their family context.