ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENVIRONMENT: GENDER AND PROFESSIONAL SENIORITY FACTORS

The purpose of the present study is to determine elementary school teachers’ attitudes towards environment. The study was conducted in the fall term of 2012-2013 school year. The study is a descriptive study employing cross-sectional survey model. Totally 878 elementary school teachers from 53 different cities participated in the study. As a data collection tool, Environmental Attitude Questionnaire was used. As a result of the study, it was found that the teachers have high level of positive attitudes towards environment (M= 170.42, ss= 15.94). Moreover, it was found that the female teachers have more positive attitudes towards environment than the male teachers (U= 83694, z= -3.18, p= .001, r= 0.1). In terms of professional seniority variable, the teachers having a length of service ranging from 1 to 5 years have more positive attitudes (Md= 173, n= 211) than the teachers having a length of service of 26 year and more (Md= 166, n= 54); and the teachers working for 16-20 years have more positive attitudes (Md= 174, n= 158) than the teachers working for 26 years or longer (Md= 166, n= 54).