Educação ambiental, uma política educacional: como a escola a acolhe?

Abstract

The current economical model is based on profit and on the logic of the production that increases and needs to be consumed. That demand to a pressure on natural resources, what causes environmental degradation and results in loss quality of life, turning the environment a global subject. In that situation the Sustainable Development is an important strategy, gathering the development of economical and social activities with the environmental conservation. An important component of that strategy is the Environmental Education EE that is being treated in Brazil starting from Laws Federal, State and Municipal and of the National Curriculum Standards. The Law 9.795 instituted the National Politics of EE and the Standards suggested the work with the traversal theme Environment in the fundamental teaching. In the salience of those educational, political and environmental discussions, it is important to understand how the politics of EE are being implemented at schools. A qualitative research is being accomplished taking as focus the schools of the municipal network of Belo Horizonte and the data are collected from direct observation, semistructured interviews and documental research. The results of that work point out that the schools researched have already a part of their actors with a critical opinion about EE; they are looking to accomplish interdisciplinary, collective and permanent activities; they are using strategies to insert the theme, for example the establishment of partnerships; and they are seeking to solve local environmental problems. It is inferred that the proposal of the Plural School of the teaching's municipal network of Belo Horizonte is a facilitator to insert the theme in schools by possessing identities of principals like the proposed by EE that is present in the Laws and in the Brazilian researches. It is observed that the theme is not still incorporated in the structure of the school curriculum in general, beeing a recent field, guided by global discussions that they were only firm starting from the decade of 1990. It is analyzed that the schools looking to touch their actors with environmental subjects, these actors are having difficulties to change their attitudes in front of the reality that works in agreement with the mechanisms of the economical model. Finally it is inferred the schools are looking to implement EE starting from the political orientations of the area, but there is still a lot to be done, being the responsibility of the State to redirect the actions of teaching institutions so that the activities are accompanied, appraised and receive the due resources for their execution.