Science museums as a space for inclusion: educational and training actions at the São Paulo Zoo
Historically, throughout its development, museums have disseminated different conceptions about their social function. Nowadays, these institutions have combined perspectives and necessary understandings with activities and practices thinking social inclusion as a precedence of their educational actions, and through them seek to enthuse and attract different audiences. In the case of zoos, the focus of performance is in the relationship between education, research and conservation, institutional pillars of these spaces. Zoos to justify their existence and the relationship of legitimacy, that is maintained with education, guided educational actions the re-signification of their social and inclusive functions, perfecting the commitment that museological institutions have adopted in their actions over the years. This research aims to discuss, analyze and establish relationships between initial and continuing education of educators in the production of educational and inclusive actions at the Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo. Through a qualitative methodological approach, data collection was performed with the use of semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed, providing detailed descriptions about the educational training and actions carried out in the institution with an inclusive focus. The data analysis was guided by the content analysis method proposed by Bardin (2016). Categories adhered to the results denote elements that are linked to the training that happens to professionals in the educational sector, considering from the initial and continuing training of respondents to the concepts that influence the practice and the elaboration of inclusive educational actions carried out in the institution.