ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: PERSPECTIVES AND INTEGRATION INTO THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Abstract

This article analyzes the practice of environmental education in Brazilian formal education, highlighting its relevance as an essential strategy for citizenship development and the promotion of sustainability in a context marked by severe socio-environmental challenges. The qualitative, exploratory research is based on bibliographic and documentary review, conducted in the databases SciELO, Google Scholar, and CAPES Portal, covering publications between 2014 and 2024, in addition to official Brazilian documents and classical works on pedagogical methodologies and educational policies. As inclusion criteria, only studies focused on the Brazilian reality were considered, with emphasis on environmental education in its methodological, normative, and curricular dimensions. The results show that, although environmental education is legally recognized as a transversal practice, it remains peripheral in schools, with difficulties in effective implementation and gaps in teacher training. Challenges such as curricular fragmentation, superficial approaches, lack of resources, and institutional demotivation persist. It was also found that the implementation of a specific curricular component is defended to strengthen the theme, but it may generate additional tensions, such as curricular overload or the isolation of its transversal character. It is concluded that the consolidation of environmental education requires combined strategies: continuous teacher training, curricular environmentalization, and contextualized methodologies that link transversal actions to specific discussion spaces. Only through this integration will it be possible to transform educational practices, bringing students closer to their realities and contributing to the construction of a critical and committed environmental citizenship.