Conceptions of environmental education of biology teachers-in training in the federal public universities of Recife

Training teachers is a complex process and the role of educating biology teachers to work effectively with environmental education (EE), in all levels of education, imposes challenges and complex social and environmental commitments to be undertaken by the universities. This statement brings us to realize how necessary is the dialogue between the university and environmental education in the training of professionals to work towards sustainability. Taking this into consideration, the present work aimed at analyzing the concepts of EE of biological sciences undergraduate students from two public federal universities of Recife and reflecting on the contributions of these spaces in teacher training, because the concepts of EE built at the university are directly related to the practiced teaching. To this end, we applied questionnaires to students in the last period of both courses. We found that there is a predominance of conceptions of EE as education directed to the environment, and EE as education for sustainability. However, we also find the conception of EE as a biology sub-area, which means reducing it to concepts of this area of knowledge, and away from the area of education. Results point to the academic commitment of universities to ensure the EE in teacher education and to the necessary process of extensive discussion and reflection on social and environmental issues aimed at the strengthening of institutions and, consequently, of teachers education.