Emerging issues for studies in environmental education in the Research Group on Non-Schools Contexts of the XII EPEA

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the improvement of the Research Discussion Group (GdP) Research in Non-School Contexts of the Research in Environmental Education Meeting, based on the systematization and evaluation of the reflective praxis carried out in the aforementioned group during the most recent edition of the Meeting, held in 2023 in Salvador, BA. The text presents details about the GdP, explains the organizational dynamics and composition of the group in this version of the event, addresses the papers presented and their interfaces, arranging them into two groups, by affinity: a) geographic places and b) thematic places. In addition, it brings up key issues that emerged in the dynamics of the GdP that are relevant for research in the field. In this aspect, first, it highlights the need for EPEA groups to go beyond identity through denial, seeking other ways of framing phenomena, more compatible with more current theoretical and epistemological reflections in the field, which value different forms of learning. Second, it emphasizes the need to overcome normative, dichotomous approaches, based on epistemological expectations of purity that create hostile environments for educators and researchers who work in non-school contexts, often marked by explicit asymmetries of power and daily conflicts, which are defined, also, by the forms through which these activities are financed. Finally, the text refers to the need for a constant search by the Meeting, of dialogue between subjects, knowledges and approaches, with the aim of valuing multiple perspectives, including with regard to the construction of the worlds we want, or societies, in plural.