Naslov
Student Teachers’ Sustainable Behaviors: Testing a Model

Autori
Vukelić, Nena ; Rončević, Nena

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, kratko priopćenje, znanstveni

Skup
European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) - Education and Society: expectations, prescriptions, reconciliations

Mjesto i datum
Geneva, Switzerland (online), 06.09.2021. - 09.09.2021

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
sustainable behavior ; student teachers ; education for sustainable development ;

Sažetak
In the context of education for sustainable development, the key role is given to (future) teachers as the most important actors of change and promotion of sustainable development. The (student) teachers are expected to have: (I) knowledge of the most important sustainability issues and topics, (II) skills to act in a sustainable way, and (III) attitudes and values that direct them to act sustainably. Rarely research focused on (student) teachers’ sustainable behavior. When so, the focus was on only one aspect of sustainable behavior: pro- environmental behavior. Therefore, the main focus of the present research is sustainable behavior of student teachers. The aim of this study is to propose and test a model of sustainable behavior on a Croatian sample of student teachers. Tapia- Fonllem et al. (2013) proposed that sustainable behavior is directly predicted by intention to act, which, in turn is influenced by indignation and by affinity toward diversity. Authors also define happiness as an expected consequence of acting in a sustainable manner. We propose a further extension of Tapia- Fonllem et al. (2013) model by including two additional predictors of sustainable behavior: ascription of responsibility for dealing with sustainability issues and awareness of consequences of sustainability issues We expect that ascription of responsibility and perception of consequences will influence intention to act in a sustainable manner and therefore will have an indirect effect on sustainable behaviors of student teachers. Specific research objectives are: (I) to test the model of intercorrelations between proposed aspects of sustainable behavior (pro- environmental, frugal, altruistic and equitable behavior) allowing for the emergence of second- order factor (sustainable behavior), (II) to test the relationship between second-order factor (sustainable behavior) and intention to act in a sustainable manner, (III) to test the indirect effects of correlates (indignation, affinity towards diversity, ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences) on sustainable behavior mediated by the intention to act and (IV) to test the association between sustainable behavior and participants' perceived happiness. The study is a part of a larger, mixed- method project “Formal Education in Service of Sustainable Development”, a 5-year long research project funded by Croatian Science Foundation, that began in 2018 and will run until 2023. This research involved 496 student teachers at the University of Rijeka, University of Pula and University of Split. Results were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results obtained in this research point out that sustainable behaviors coherently emerge from the significant interrelations among their four first- order factors. Model indicates that sustainable behavior is directly predicted by intention to act, which in turn is positively and significantly influenced by indignation, affinity towards diversity, ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences. Sustainable behaviors slightly predict self-assessment of happiness. The obtained values of the goodness-of-fit indices indicate that the model fit is good. Student teachers are more likely to behave in a sustainable manner when their levels of behavioral intention to act are higher and if they feel personal responsibility to solve sustainability issues, if they are aware of the consequences of sustainability problems, if the feel indignation and if they show an affinity to diversity in their everyday life. In turn, those student teachers who behave more sustainably are more satisfied with their life.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Pedagogija

POVEZANOST RADA