Environmental Education from the Perspective of Paulo Freire: A Critical Analysis

Critical environmental education. Freirian epistemology.

Abstract

Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was an educator and philosopher, defender of Critical Pedagogy and popular education, he argued that education has the power of emancipation and social transformation. Considering the importance of this educator for the scenario of national and international education. This article aims to analyze Paulo Freire's vision of Environmental Education (EE) and how his epistemological approach relates to this field. To collect data, a bibliographic review was used through the Integrative Review (IR), with the aim of analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing the connections between Freire's principles and the challenges of EA. This work contextualizes Paulo Freire's vision of environmental education within his works and his broader contributions to critical pedagogy. In addition to establishing significant connections between Freire's concepts and principles and environmental education, providing a deeper understanding of the intersection between these two fields. Although Freire is not an environmental educator, in his works it is possible to highlight important connections with the theme, including praxis, participation and dialogue, contextualization and critical consciousness.