Entre ação e reflexão: percursos formativos de um estágio à luz da educação ambiental crítica

Abstract

This study aims to narrate and analyze the researcher’s experiences during a non-mandatory curricular internship in a food industry company, seeking to understand how the practices developed their dialogue with the assumptions of environmental education and what meanings emerge from this formative experience in light of a reflective and transformative perspective. The research is qualitative in nature and is based on autobiographical narrative inquiry. Data were produced through reflective records in a field diary and complemented by subsequent reflections, being subjected to critical thematic analysis. The experiences made it possible to identify environmental education practices implemented in the corporate environment, such as waste management, water reuse, employee training, and external actions in schools. Despite the educational nature of these initiatives, the results revealed contradictions between the institutional discourse and the practices adopted, showing that much of these actions are aimed at maintaining the corporate image rather than effectively transforming production and consumption processes. The internship contributed to the development of a critical understanding of the limitations of corporate sustainability and reinforced the conception of environmental education as a process that should integrate social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions. It is concluded that the internship was significant for the author’s academic and professional training, as it stimulated reflections on the challenges of critical educational practice in corporate contexts and on the need for approaches that promote structural changes in the society-nature relationship.