Educação ambiental infantil: uma avaliação da formação continuada de professores em Fortaleza/CE

Abstract

Environmental Education (EE) emerges as a response to the need to address socio-environmental impacts resulting from an exploitative development model that compromises ecological sustainability and social equity. Transdisciplinary in nature, EE should be incorporated at all levels of education, with special attention to the continuing education of basic education teachers. In this context, the present study aims to evaluate the continuing education policy for early childhood education teachers in the municipality of Fortaleza regarding the promotion of EE. The relevance of the research is based on the existence of local institutional frameworks, such as the Municipal Environmental Education Policy (2002), the Municipal Environmental Policy (2017), and the Ateliê Project, a guiding document for early childhood education in the municipality. Methodologically, a qualitative approach was adopted, with triangulation of methods that articulate literature review, documentary research, case study, and interviews with teacher educators working in the educational districts, covering the period from 2017 to 2024—a time frame defined from the promulgation of the municipal environmental policy that incorporates EE. The results indicate that, although Fortaleza has a regulatory framework aligned with the guidelines of Environmental Education, there is no consistent evidence of updated continuing education policies specifically aimed at Early Childhood Education teachers. It was also observed that the decolonial approach to Environmental Education in training is incipient, generating conceptual gaps that impact pedagogical practices. Furthermore, the guiding documents for Early Childhood Education show a democratic, participatory, and dialogical perspective, even though they lack greater depth and consolidation within the scope of training practices.