EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND VALUES: CONTRIBUTIONS OF LOGOTHERAPY AND EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDHOOD

Abstract

This article analyzes Early Childhood Education as a space for human formation oriented towards values, grounded in Logotherapy and Viktor Frankl's Existential Analysis. The theoretical-reflective study seeks to understand the role of Early Childhood Education in the constitution of the person from a Franklian anthropological perspective, highlighting the centrality of meaning, responsible freedom, and the evaluative dimension of existence. To this end, it discusses conceptions of childhood, child, and Early Childhood Education, presents core concepts of Frankl's theory, and examines its contributions to educational practices aimed at integral formation. It argues that Early Childhood Education, when guided by meaningful experiences and intentional relationships, favors the experience of creative, experiential, and attitudinal values. It concludes that this level of education constitutes a privileged space for humanization, as it promotes the discovery of meaning, ethical responsibility, and the capacity to cope with life's situations from the earliest formative processes.