The Environmental Education in the PNLD 2021 Textbooks

Challenges and Opportunities for a Critical Approach

Abstract

This article investigates the approach to Environmental Education (EE) in high school textbooks approved by the National Program for Textbooks and Teaching Materials (PNLD) 2021, in the field of Natural Sciences and its Technologies. The aim of the research is analyze how environmental issues are addressed in these materials, identifying the presence (or absence) of critical discussions on environmental topics, as well as assessing whether the adopted approaches contribute to the formation of critical and reflective individuals, in line with the principles of Critical Environmental Education (CEE). The research is based on the premise that educational policies, such as the National Environmental Education Policy (PNEA) and the National Curricular Guidelines for Environmental Education, advocate for a transversal and critical EE that fosters awareness and transformative action in the face of contemporary environmental challenges. The documentary research was conducted using seven didactic collections of textbooks approved in the PNLD 2021 as the corpus, which were analyzed through Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA). The analysis identified four main categories: focus on immediate and procedural actions, sustainable practices, biodiversity conservation, and gaps and opportunities for advancement in EE. The results indicate that, although EE is present, its approach tends to be superficial and fragmented, emphasizing individual and informative practices rather than fostering critical reflection on power structures and inequalities that perpetuate environmental degradation. It is concluded that there is a need to improve the approach to EE in textbooks by integrating a critical perspective that problematizes power relations and promotes environmental justice, aiming to train critical and active citizens in the construction of a more just and sustainable society.