The shortage of physics teachers with adequate training to work in Basic Education classrooms is a reflection of physics degree courses that graduate a small number of students. In order to investigate which aspects contribute to the retention of physics graduates on courses offered by public higher education institutions in the state of Pernambuco, Bernard Charlot's notion of the relationship to knowledge was used as a theoretical basis. This notion encompasses the relationships that are established with others, with the world and with ourselves when we are exposed to the need to learn something. In order to achieve the objective, a study was constructed based on a multipaper structure composed of five articles. Initially, we analyzed how the relationship to knowledge has been used in the training of physics teachers in the Brazilian context (article 1); we analyzed the Pedagogical Projects of Physics Degree Courses at public higher education institutions in Pernambuco, looking at the curriculum (article 2); the definitions of permanence and dropout in higher education were discussed, listing the elements that contribute to the occurrence of these phenomena (article 3); an analysis of the in-person Physics Degree courses in the state was presented, verifying their quality indicators, dropout rates and number of graduates (article 4); the elements that graduates and dropouts of Physics Degree courses in Pernambuco constructed with Physics were presented and how such construction was decisive for the decision to remain or abandon the course, from the perspective of the relationship to knowledge (article 5). Seven courses were analyzed. Using a structured questionnaire, responses were obtained from 61 physics undergraduates who were close to completing the course (2024.2 and 2025.1) and 14 former undergraduates from public physics degree courses in Pernambuco, distributed in the metropolitan, agreste and sertão regions of the state. The results showed that the decision to stay or drop out of the course is multifactorial, based on the relationships established with teachers, colleagues, course, institution and with oneself. It was found that in order to continue studying, students need to find meaning in this activity, identifying with physics and teaching, since it is this identification that influences whether or not they mobilize themselves to permanence until they graduate. Studies like this provide a current overview of the training of physics teachers and the causes for them to make one decision or another, indicating actions that can be taken by institutions, encouraging both physics undergraduates and students from courses with a similar profile to stay, not only in Pernambuco, but throughout the country.

In this thesis, entitled “ Humanizing Scientific Education: a pedagogical proposal for the Education of Young, Adult and Elderly People based on Teaching by Research and the Freirean dialogical-problematizing perspective”, aspects that intersect between the fields of Teaching by Research are privileged. , Paulo Freire's Pedagogy and the Education of Young, Adult and Elderly People (EPJAI). Its central objective was: to identify, characterize and systematize theoretical principles for proposing a pedagogical perspective of Humanizing Scientific Education for EPJAI, based on Teaching by Investigation and the Freirean dialogical-problematizing perspective. This is a theoretical research of a qualitative nature and of a bibliographic nature, based on the articulation of the references of teaching through investigation and the Freirean dialogical-problematizing perspective. Initially, possible pedagogical articulations between the aforementioned perspectives were described and analyzed, so that similarities, particularities and complementarities could be identified. The analysis of these approaches made it possible to structure the central theoretical assumptions of the pedagogical proposal defended in this study, namely: the conception of a social subject, non-neutral, epistemic and ontological; the notion of an investigative problem with humanizing potential; the conception of dialogue of knowledge and epistemic agency; and the notion of participation from scientific culture. In the second moment, didactic and pedagogical implications were discussed regarding the planning of investigative activities articulated with the Freirean dialogical-problematizing perspective. The deepening around these implications allowed the establishment of principles aimed at materializing the pedagogical proposal raised in this thesis, at the same time that it favored the structuring of didactic guidelines for the implementation of said proposal. The principles highlighted reflect the concern with the need to build an environment based on respect for the rights of subjects, the dialogue of knowledge and the development of students' epistemic agency; with the investigation of reality to identify limit situations and recognize the prior knowledge of young, adult and elderly students; with the pragmatic dimension of the investigative-humanizing problem, finding the intersection between limit situations synthesized into generating themes and science themes; and with the approach to scientific culture as a path to scientific-political literacy for EPJAI subjects. At the same time that the theoretical construct of this study contributed to the deepening of discussions around the conception of Humanizing Scientific Education and the teaching and learning processes in science in the context of EPJAI, it also allowed challenges to emerge to be faced, which could be quote: the culture of silence and self-worthlessness still marked by EPJAI students; the training of teachers in the area of natural sciences who tend to disregard discussions related to EPJAI; and the curricular propositions prepared without considering the subjects of the process, in addition to the absence of surveys of possible demands or topics to be worked on. In view of this, it is suggested that other studies may be concerned with validating the articulations proposed here, using empirical data to investigate the possibilities, limitations, needs and other aspects arising from the implementation of the pedagogical proposal presented.