Educação para a sustentabilidade no bioma cerrado: articulações necessárias à formação de professores que ensinam no Matopiba

Abstract

In the geographical area known as Matopiba (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia), located in the cerrado biome, socio-environmental problems are worsening daily with the excessive expansion of agribusiness. This is a high impact caused mainly by deforestation and the use of pesticides, which has been identified and disseminated by numerous studies, which reveal the destruction of nature, animal and plant life, and consequently human life, threatening future generations and the biodiversity present in the biome. Several schools are located around numerous farms that contribute to this unbridled development, which only favors economic growth based on the exploitation of cheap labor. Considering the potential of the pillars of education for sustainability in teacher training, we defend the thesis that this perspective can foster training processes for in-service teachers, problematizing the catastrophic and unsustainable situation of the cerrado biome in Matopiba, and also making it possible to direct and rethink their practices, teaching situations and the reorientation of the school curriculum. This study aimed to analyze the limits and possibilities of education for sustainability as a problematizing perspective of the cerrado biome in the continuing education of teachers in two schools located in Matopiba, specifically in the municipality of Balsas, state of Maranhão, the city that has deforested the biome the most in recent years in favor of agribusiness. The qualitative research analyzed semistructured interviews conducted with 10 in-service teachers and interpreted through the Discursive Textual Analysis (ATD) technique, which indicated the emergence of the following categories: 1. Sustainability: concepts, approaches and purposes; 2. To conserve or to produce?: an emerging socio-environmental controversy for problematizations and reflections in Matopiba; and, 3. The cerrado is on the verge of being born unhappy: scientific complaints. In addition, we also analyzed a training process with the teachers participating in the investigation, seeking to promote the construction of a didactic project that could problematize and propose possible solutions to contribute to the biome. The results point to a series of conceptions, some of which are still uncritical on the part of the teachers regarding the problem in question, indicating the need for training courses aimed at disseminating more sustainable proposals. In addition, a series of complaints emerged from the teachers who work there about unsustainable practices in the region, allowing us to criticize such attitudes and propose some important solutions for reflection, awareness and action in school spaces. The training process also enabled us to perceive the potential for dialogue and critical analysis of local issues, culminating in the development of a project for use in the school itself, as a possibility to enhance education for sustainability in search of real social transformation. However, the problems surrounding the cerrado biome arising from agribusiness continue to prevail unchecked, requiring a broad effort from different entities to try to curb such harmful acts.