Teacher education and nature meanings and silences at the interface between environment and society

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative study, descriptive and exploratory in nature, that examined Early Childhood Education teachers’ perceptions of how the theme of nature is addressed in their professional training. Grounded in the contributions of Tardif (2014) and Nóvoa (1992), the study engages with contemporary challenges related to the environmental crisis and the growing confinement of childhood, underscoring the importance of nature for children’s holistic development (Louv, 2016; Tiriba, 2018). Open-ended questionnaires were administered to twenty educators, and the data were analyzed through Content Analysis (Bardin, 1977). Four categories emerged: the absence or superficial treatment of the theme in initial teacher education; sporadic or fragmented initiatives; the valuing of personal experience as a source of knowledge; and the desire for more robust continuing education opportunities. The findings highlight significant gaps in teacher education processes and point to the need for educational policies that strengthen environmentally engaged pedagogical practices capable of fostering ecological literacy from early childhood.