Práticas de educação ambiental crítica: dialogando com Paulo Freire em busca de pedagogias ecológicas e libertadoras na escola das infâncias

Abstract

Environmental education in formal education can play a fundamental role in transforming values and habits, striving for more sustainable and humane schools, and fostering children's connection with nature within the framework of a critical and liberating pedagogy. One of the challenges faced by critical environmental education is to seek meaning and continuity in practices carried out in schools, overcoming the fragmentation of knowledge, the discontinuity of proposals, and the disconnection of humans from nature. This necessitates a permanent teacher education, supported by an ecological and liberating pedagogy. With this understanding, the main objective of this research is to investigate environmental education practices in childhood education schools from a critical perspective, as well as to understand how teacher education impacts these practices. As specific objectives, this research sought to highlight the importance of children’s connection with nature as a commitment to their integral development and the survival of both human and non-human life on the planet, along with the recognition of the relevance of teachers’ permanent education. In the search for empirical evidence to analyze best practices, a public elementary school in the municipality of São Paulo was selected. The research methodology was based on the principles of thematic investigation as proposed by Paulo Freire (2020), employing focus groups and participant observation to gather data. It was revealed that the critical teacher education impacts environmental education practices and that the role of the pedagogical coordinator is crucial in mobilizing the team for the planning and implementation of critical environmental education practices. As a result, this study aims to contribute to reflections and actions in schools, addressing the need to promote critical environmental education