Educação ambiental e as aproximações entre empresas e escolas: o caso do programa Pró-mananciais na Bacia Hidrográfica Sapucaí

Abstract

The environmental actions promoted by companies in elementary schools draw our attention to try to understand the possibilities of encouraging political praxis among young people. Therefore, we directed our inquiries towards the characteristics of the actions promoted by the business sector in the school space, such as those of the Socio-Environmental Program for the Protection and Recovery of Water Sources - Pró-mananciais, led by public-private companies. To this end, we aimed to identify and analyze understandings about environmental issues, the educational process, and the perspectives of the dimension of political praxis based on the relationships between Pró-mananciais and an elementary school located in the Sapucaí River Watershed. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with education professionals and members of Pró-mananciais. Meetings promoted by the program aimed at defining actions in the locality in question were also observed. We relied on Transkriptor software for audio transcription and NVivo for data systematization and analysis. We adopted Content Analysis, in the modality of Thematic Analysis, as the methodological procedure. The results and discussions raised indicated that Pró-mananciais' actions have the potential to influence the teacher and student formation process. These actions, above all, favor the establishment of consensus on Environmental Issues and the educational process in the school space, which can be interpreted as the establishment of a teaching obstruction regime. In this sense, the relationships between the framework of environmental disasters and the capitalist society model were superficially addressed, limiting the discussions to the individuality and immediate actions' scope. The environmental actions executed by Pró-mananciais in the elementary school attributed environmental problems to personal choices, focusing their mitigation on techno-scientific aspects and behavioral change. Discussions like these can obscure the possibilities of questioning and critically thinking about the capitalist society model. It became evident that the school has been a stage for the dissemination of understandings, values, and practices that are dear to Pró-mananciais in the local community. Despite some education professionals having criticized Pró-mananciais' posture, there were no opposing positions. This finding suggests that there is a silencing, albeit involuntary, of dissenting voices within the school. In addition to this, we noted that the idea of collective participation, which is one of the bases of the program's environmental actions, was re-signified, not allowing the community to participate in decision-making spaces. This process of privatizing the school space can contribute to maintaining an educational model that emphasizes individualism and behavioral change, rather than advocating for critical and emancipatory teaching. Thus, the relationship between Pró-mananciais and the school contributes to the crystallization of meanings about political praxis different from those we consider relevant to students' formation. Finally, it is crucial that education professionals, especially those involved in relationships between companies and schools, reflect and oppose the impacts that environmental business actions have had on the educational process.