Políticas públicas ambientais: uma proposta para educação de ensino fundamental de São José dos Campos

Abstract

This paper discusses Environmental Education (EE) as part of Public Policy. This is a current concern of Brazilian society as the diffusion of environmental issues is a citizen's right. Education in EE might become one of the most relevant tools for population behavior changing and development of a sustainability culture, where children, as builders of the future, could become the best actors in its implementation. This educational process should consider the importance of environmental knowledge structured in ethical values, social coexistence, fair benefits distribution and potential harm caused to nature. The National Curricular Parameters include EE as an interdisciplinary field to the others, but the everyday school life observation indicates that the necessary time for learning this subject isn’t available. From the literature review, experts on the subject emphasize the need to maintain EE as an interdisciplinary subject, although empirical studies revealed serious obstacles to its implementation, mainly due to school curriculum organization, to lack of teachers training and to political issues. A further documentary research on the EE programs undertaken in the city of São Jose dos Campos and a case study in one of its schools were conducted. To enable feasibility of EE as a discipline in school curriculum the introduction of a pilot project at a school in Sao Jose dos Campos is proposed.