The present article approaches a research carried out at the first school institutions in Pelotas/RS which focused on helping kindergarten and preschool children, without an asylum character, in the mid 20th century. Such spaces present the marks left by the challenges assumed in the name of the protection and education of these children. This research, a qualitative one, had as technical support some studies on gender, cultural studies and post-structuralist authors. The collected materials and the contexts in which they were produced indicated some elements which comprised the scenario in which the teachers developed their work. With this research it was possible to highlight how the teachers were represented and how the teaching practice in Childhood Education was connected to the resolution of some social problems. Therefore, the demands attributed to the teachers incorporate relevant figures to a certain historical period, with their different moments and necessities pointed out.
teachers; preschool children; Childhood Education.