Browsing by Author "Patronen, Greta"

Objectives. Sustainability education is part of the curriculum, so every teacher should implement sustainable development education, accordingly, integrating it into different subjects. With regard to crafts, sustainable education appears in materials, among other things. The aim of this study was to find out what kind of attitudes primary school craft teachers have about sustainable development teaching and how craft teachers perceive the importance of different areas of sustainable development. The study also wants to find out whether any of the teacher's background information has a connection or difference to attitudes towards the teaching of sustainable development or the importance of sustainable development. Methods. The material for the study was a questionnaire based on Fennema and Sherman’s attitude statements, collected from primary school teachers who teach crafts at either elementary or high school, or both. The survey was collected in February 2021 and respondents to the survey were received via social media and email. A total of 50 teachers responded to the survey. The data were analyzed using quantitative methods, of which the statistical connection between teachers' background information and attitudes and importance of sustainability were examined by looking at correlation coefficients. Statistical differences were examined by t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results and conclusions. The attitudes of craft teachers towards teaching sustainable development were mostly positive and they also saw sustainable development as an important topic in school. A connection between teachers' attitudes and background information was found regarding the number of students in the school. The bigger the school was where teachers worked in, the more positive they were about the meaningfulness of sustainable teaching. The differences between related background information, and education for sustainable development and gender attitudes found with regard to age. Women's attitudes towards education for sustainability and the importance of sustainable development were more positive than men's. Teacher’s age had an effect on the self-efficacy of sustainability education and older teachers were more confident about sustainable education. As craft is a material subject, it will certainly facilitate the implementation of sustainable development education, which will also have a more positive attitude towards the topic.