11. Scientific Research and the Construction of the Field of Teaching of Geography in Schools: Trends and Challenges

The aim of this chapter is to present the cutting edge Brazilian academic–scientific production focused on the area of Teaching of Geography, limited to the years 1987–2019. This limitation is justified due to the fact that it was the period in which there was an increase in the amount of work produced, national coverage, research topics and clashes of theoretical-methodological, epistemological and political guidelines which developed the debates on the concepts of Teaching of Geography, course plans, teaching practices, research and outreach, among much other production, which influenced the field of geography taught in schools and the initial and ongoing education of professors. To do so, we will cover the origins of the field of research, the transformation which it has undergone, as well as its current configuration and challenges, with the critical, libertarian and emancipating perspective of education as a horizon for action. We have conducted qualitative and quantitative studies of books, specialist journals, dissertations and theses produced on the issue in order to reflect on the path for constructing this field of knowledge and, above all, on its challenges with a view to strengthening Piagetian education, which together with other conservative and currently neoliberal policies, have strongly impacted and continue to impact the field with regard to the expansion of the number of jobs focused on the methodologies of teaching which help to alienate the political and transformative role of education in a country of broad social and territorial inequalities, such as Brazil.