the school as a place for shaping individuals who generate knowledge: Case study of Professor Manoel Xavier Paes Barreto State School, in municipality Petrolina, Pernambuco

This study sought to understand the views of teachers and secondary school pupils at Paes Barreto School regarding the process of knowledge production. This work focuses on research into the role of the environment in facilitating knowledge production, exploring the reciprocal influence between educators and learners during the production and organisation of knowledge at school, based on an understanding of teachers' perceptions of how the outcomes of their work will contribute to the development of students as critical and autonomous individuals. The methodological approach employed was ethnographic research using the case study methodology. The research was conducted with the collaboration of teachers working in the upper secondary school at Escola Paes Barreto and students in the first and second years of upper secondary school. From a theoretical perspective, reference was made to the works of Paulo Freire (1997), Paulo Freire (1996), Paulo Freire (1979), Moacir Gadotti (2010), Feldmann (2009), Peter McLaren (1977), Vieira (2000) and Loureiro (2009), Celina (1990), Santomé (1998), amongst others.