Analysis of Sustainability Knowingness, Attitudes and Behavior of a Spanish Pre-Service Primary Teachers Sample

José María Marcos-Merino, Isaac Corbacho-Cuello and Míriam Hernández-Barco
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José María Marcos-Merino: Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y Matemáticas, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Isaac Corbacho-Cuello: Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y Matemáticas, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Míriam Hernández-Barco: Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y Matemáticas, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-22

Abstract: In the context of climatic emergency, teaching for sustainability is crucial to transform damaging behavioral social paths into sustainable ones. In this contribution, we focus on the relevance of the Degree in Primary Education to reach this change, assessing through the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ) the sustainability awareness of a sample of 151 students of this bachelor’s degree. SPSS and JASP statistical programs were used for data analyses and graphical representations. The results support that this test is appropriate to estimate the different dimensions of sustainability consciousness of Spanish pre-service primary teachers. Specifically, we found that these students assign higher scores to items of sustainability knowingness and sustainability attitudes above all in the social dimension. Some gender differences are found in sustainability behavior, which is higher in the male subset for the economic dimension. Correlation analysis reveals positive associations between sustainability knowingness and sustainability attitudes, whereas sustainability behavior is positively related to both constructs but only in the social dimension. These results highlight the necessity of teaching sustainability looking for behavioral changes in the Degree of Primary Education.

Keywords: sustainability consciousness; sustainability knowingness; sustainability attitudes; sustainability behavior; higher education; primary education; pre-service primary teachers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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