EDUCAÇÃO AMBIENTAL, CURRÍCULO E FORMAÇÃO DOCENTE NA AMAZÔNIA SUL-OCIDENTAL

Abstract

This research critically analyzed the integration of Environmental Education (EE) into the curriculum, teacher education, and pedagogical practices of Basic Education in the municipality of Rolim de Moura, located in the Southwestern Amazon. Grounded in the understanding of the socio-environmental crisis as an expression of a broader civilizational crisis, the study is based on the perspective of Critical Environmental Education, conceived as a continuous, territorialized, and emancipatory formative process, shaped by epistemological and political disputes within curricular policies and school institutions. The general objective was to examine how EE has been incorporated into both initial and continuing teacher education within the state school system of Rondônia, analyzing the articulation among curricular policies, the organization of teacher education programs, formative experiences, and pedagogical practices developed in state schools. The study advances the hypothesis that the epistemological fragility and marginalization of EE within teacher education curricula contribute to the reproduction of predominantly conservationist, fragmented, and decontextualized practices, thereby limiting the critical potential of schools in addressing Amazonian socio-environmental conflicts. Methodologically, this qualitative, exploratory, and interpretative research was structured into six articulated and multiscalar stages: (1) bibliometric analysis of Latin American scientific production on Environmental Education (2019–2023); (2) systematic review of Brazilian literature concerning the incorporation of EE into initial teacher education curricula (2015–2023); (3) analysis of doctoral theses defended in Brazil”s Northern Region (2019–2024); (4) documentary analysis of curricular matrices and Pedagogical Course Projects (PPCs) of teacher education programs offered in Rolim de Moura; (5) field research with 37 teachers from six state schools through semi-structured questionnaires; and (6) systematization of references and proposal of pathways for strengthening EE in the regional context. Data were analyzed through Content Analysis, articulated with lexicometric procedures using IRAMUTEQ software. The findings reveal that, despite the solid legal framework supporting Environmental Education in Brazil, its institutionalization within teacher education and school curricula remains fragile. In the analyzed teacher education programs, EE appears peripherally and in a fragmented manner, frequently restricted to Biology and Geography programs and treated as a complementary component or diluted cross-cutting topic. The study identified low specific workload allocation, absence of consistent interdisciplinary integration, and limited problematization of Amazonian territorial conflicts. At the school level, pedagogical practices were predominantly conservationist and problem-solving oriented, centered on punctual actions (recycling campaigns, commemorative dates, awareness campaigns), with reduced curricular articulation and limited incorporation into Political-Pedagogical Projects. Teachers” conceptions fluctuated between naturalistic and moralizing perspectives, with less frequent critical approaches aimed at structural analysis of socio-environmental inequalities. These findings confirm the hypothesis that formative fragility directly impacts the quality and depth of pedagogical practices. Furthermore, the analysis of recent educational policies, particularly the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and the National Common Base for Teacher Education (BNC-Formação), indicates a movement toward curricular technicization and standardization, contributing to the dilution of EE as a structuring axis and reducing it to a transversal competency devoid of political and territorial density. In this context, transversality operates as a mechanism of thematic dispersion, weakening its transformative potential. The study concludes that overcoming this scenario requires the institutionalization of Environmental Education as a structuring, interdisciplinary, and territorialized axis within teacher education and basic education curricula, articulating universities, schools, and communities. It advocates for a critical educational praxis that recognizes educators as political subjects and the Amazonian territory as a formative space of resistance and knowledge production. The consolidation of EE in the Southwestern Amazon demands integrated public policies, strengthened continuing education, and the valorization of contextualized pedagogical practices capable of addressing the contradictions between agribusiness expansion, environmental degradation, and socio-environmental justice.