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Sustainability education (SE) is included in school curricula to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development (SD) into all education. This study investigates lower secondary school subject teachers as educators for sustainability. A survey was used to study the perceptions of 442 subject teachers from 49 schools in Finland. There were significant differences between the subject teachers’ perceptions of their SE competence, and the frequency with which they used different dimensions of SE (ecological, economic, social, well-being, cultural) in their teaching varied. Teachers’ age had a small effect, but gender, school, and its residential location were nonsignificant factors. Teachers could be roughly classified into three different subgroups according to their perceptions of the role of SE in their teaching; those who considered three SE dimensions rather often and used holistic sustainability approaches in their teaching (biology, geography, history); those who considered two or three dimensions often but were not active in holistic teaching (mother tongue, religion, visual arts, crafts, music, physical and health education, and home economics) and those who used one SE dimension or consider only one holistic approach in their teaching (mathematics, physics, chemistry and language). Subject teachers’ awareness of their SE competence is important to encourage them to plan and implement discipline-based and interdisciplinary SE in their teaching. The specific SE expertise of subject teachers should be taken into account in teacher training and education.
Anna Uitto; Seppo Saloranta. Subject Teachers as Educators for Sustainability: A Survey Study. Education Sciences 2017, 7, 8 .
AMA StyleAnna Uitto, Seppo Saloranta. Subject Teachers as Educators for Sustainability: A Survey Study. Education Sciences. 2017; 7 (1):8.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Uitto; Seppo Saloranta. 2017. "Subject Teachers as Educators for Sustainability: A Survey Study." Education Sciences 7, no. 1: 8.
Education for sustainability (ESD) is meant to enhance learners’ knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills concerning sustainable development. In this study the relationships among Finnish grade nine students’ (N = 2,367) values, attitudes, interests, and motivations were studied. Human-centered values, biocentric nature value, pro-environmental and pro-social attitudes, interests, and motivations were found to be interconnected. Attitudes, interests, and motivations connected to dismissive human and utilistic nature value correlated negatively with the factors. It is important to notice the connections between students’ values and value-related orientations because they affect students’ engagement in issues and activities concerning ESD at school.
Anna Uitto; Seppo Saloranta. The relationship between secondary school students’ environmental and human values, attitudes, interests and motivations. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2010, 9, 1866 -1872.
AMA StyleAnna Uitto, Seppo Saloranta. The relationship between secondary school students’ environmental and human values, attitudes, interests and motivations. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2010; 9 ():1866-1872.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Uitto; Seppo Saloranta. 2010. "The relationship between secondary school students’ environmental and human values, attitudes, interests and motivations." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 9, no. : 1866-1872.