This qualitative study identifies the ideas regarding health education of 12 nurses who are part of the public health service of a city in the São Paulo countryside, and proposes a corresponding educational action. In this study, we used the methodology of action research. Data collection occurred in the second half of 2009 in the public health units of the mentioned municipality. Participant observation and interviews were implemented. The analysis and interpretation of data were conducted through categorization, based on the theory by Paulo Freire. As a result, the reductionism of health education in the pedagogical approach involving the transmission of knowledge was exposed, envisioning a biologicist tendency of academic training. However, in discussion circles, the awakening of political awareness related to the theme and the promotion of health was assumed. In conclusion, there is a need for changes in such training and for the facilitation of new modes of scientific production in the quest for social transformation.