This article discusses the relationships between the concepts of subject and education based on studies conducted by the research group LEFoPI/UFJF. This is from the historical-cultural approach, based on the ideas of Vygotsky and Bakhtin that discusses the processes of construction of subjectivity that emerge in relations between adults and children and among children mediated cultural productions of these subjects in contexts of early childhood education and early years of elementary school, having the language as central subject. These processes are investigated through two projects: (1) research-intervention in critical perspective of collaboration with day care professionals in continuous formation; (2) longitudinal study, which seeks to understand the experience of a group of children in the transition from the stage of early childhood education and elementary school, focusing, especially, reading. The studies point to the importance of reflection on practice and the practice of reflection in a circumscribed movement to the historical-cultural context of each subject.
cultural-historical perspective; childhood; training of teachers; languages