What Stimulates Environmental Identity of Students with High Environmental Literacy -Teachers' Perspective

Abstract

Environmental problems of Serbia are prominent and various: The European Environment Agency (2023) attributed 14800 of premature deaths to PM 2.5 particles solely, with an overall population of 1.7 million; only 14.8% of wastewater gets treated (NALED, 2023); and over 3000 unsanitary landfills. The environmental threats have inspired the authors of the present study to explore the key school practices that facilitate environmentally friendly behaviors of students. The study relies on two constructs, environmental literacy (EL) and environmental identity (EI), both incorporating pro-environmental behavior. EL is the goal of environmental education, and its paramount real-world measure is what people do regarding nature (Disinger & Roth, 1992). In the present study, EL operationalization relies on the framework developed for the purpose of national survey in the USA (Mc Beth et al., 2008), that has previously been piloted in Serbia (Marušić Jablanović et al., 2022). It distinguishes four components of EL with belonging subcomponents: (1) ecological knowledge, (2) environmental affect (verbal commitment, environmental sensitivity and environmental feelings), (3) actual commitment (pro-environmental behavior) and (4) cognitive skills (identification of environmental problems, analysis of the environmental problems and action planning). EI refers to an individual's sense of connection to the nonhuman natural environment and to the belief that environment is an important part of self; it is reflected in our nature-related values and behaviors. It is based on history, emotional attachment and likeness (Clayton, 2003). The EI can be more or less prominent, and the basic criterion to recognize it is simple feeling of care about the environment (Kals & Ittner, 2003). The authors perceive EL and EL as overlapping to a large degree, they both include sensitivity and care, sense of responsibility, pro-environmental values, sense of responsibility and participation. (Marušić Jablanović et al., under revie). This overlap of the constructs is embedded in the methodology of the project which generated the results we are presenting. Its first phase intended to measure EL of the 7th grade students of Serbia elementary schools (N=877, from 47 classes, each from different schools). The total EL score was 147.93, and the scores for knowledge were 37.85, 44.11 for affect, 25.97 for cognitive skills, 40.01 for behavior (Blagdanić et al., 2024). All the scores are moderate, but cognitive skills score remains under the scale average, while affect reaches the highest values of moderate specter (reference values according to Mc Beth et al, 2011). In the second phase of the project, the Ecological Identity is investigated further using qualitiative methodology. The part of the results will be presented in this paper. The data on the EI of the students attending classes with the highest EL were presented in a previous study (Marušić Jablanović et al., under review). While elaborating on their overall attitude towards nature students presented sensitivity for the qualities of nature, sense of concern and care for it and critical attitude towards the inappropriate behaviors of others. In a private context, students emphasize spending time with important others in the beautiful natural sites, contact with jeopardized nature and witnessing inappropriate behaviors of individuals as incentives for their highly positive attitude towards the environment. In the school context, students emphasize teachers as role models, the lectures presenting beauty of nature and the threats it faces, as well as activities in the school yard- collecting garbage and planting, and place based learning examples like walk with teachers near the lake and discussing its characteristics Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Classes which participated at the aforementioned quantitative phase were ranked, in order to select the participants for phase two. In this phase, qualitative data were gathered using an open-ended questionnaire and group interviews with the students from the best participating schools. In that way, we were able to hear their voice on the experiences, role models and activities they recognize as the most influential for their overall attitude towards nature – the data were briefly described above. Besides investigating the students EI, we interviewed the teachers they have mentioned as the most influential for their overall attitude towards nature. The data obtained from the teachers of the best performing classes will be presented in this paper. The aim of the paper is to explore the segments of these teachers’ environmental identity, as well as practices they find stimulating for environmental identity of their students. Particularly, our goal was to present the teachers’ perceptions of the selected classes, their singularities, attitudes, affects toward nature and environmental sustainability. We also intended to describe teachers understanding of their own role regarding nature – if they perceived themselves as nature loving persons, and nature protectors. The data were collected from October 2023 till January 2024. In that period researchers had a chance to visit selected schools and conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews. The first selected school is situated in a small multicultural town in the north of Serbia, characterized by a developed agricultural sector, having environmental challenges, as other urban areas in the country. The second school is located in Southern Serbia, in a city center, with various environmental problems, such as air pollution and insufficient infrastructure for waste management. Six teachers participated in the interviews – two class teachers, two biology teachers, a teacher of technical education and a chemistry teacher. During data processing, a coding scheme has been developed by two independent groups of researchers. The process was deductive and inductive, based on our previous theoretical insights and empirical evidence. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Teachers stressed the importance of different projects with intense activity and initiative of students, and opportunity to cooperate with colleagues from other schools and countries. They also stressed the importance of collaboration between the teachers of first cycle of elementary school (class teachers, class 1-4) and teachers of second cycle (subject teachers, class 5-8), and subject acknowledge the contribution of the work of class teachers. Regarding teaching methods in environmental education, teachers find that discussing various environmental problems prevailing in their surrounding ( air pollution, waste disposal…) and connecting teaching with everyday local and global environmental threats, bring success in developing the environmental identity of their students. Teachers are well informed on the local polluters, the activities of local environmental organizations, and they mention personal participation in the activities aiming to protect the environment. Nevertheless, teachers find that students from the classes with the highest EL were predisposed to learn on the environmental topics, which indicates that the family surrounding had been stimulating their EI. This is corroborated by the students’ descriptions of private life experiences