An examination of the relationship between social studies teacher candidates' environmental literacy levels and their attitudes toward a sustainable environment

This study, "designed to examine 'the relationship between social studies teacher candidates' environmental literacy levels and their attitudes towards a sustainable environment", employed the correlational survey model from quantitative research methods. The population of the study comprised Social studies teacher candidates studying at the education faculties of İnönü University, Fırat University, Gaziantep University, Dicle University, and Sivas Cumhuriyet University in the 2025-2026 academic year. The sample consists of 533 teacher candidates selected from among the social studies teacher candidates in the population using the 'Simple Random Sampling' method. The research data were obtained from the 'Personal Information Form' created by the researcher, the 'Environmental Literacy Scale for Adults' developed by Yıldız (2011), and the 'Sustainable Environment Attitude Scale' developed by Atabek-Yiğit et al. (2014). The data obtained in this context were analysed using an appropriate analysis programme. Within the scope of the research, in addition to the 'relationship between social studies teacher candidates' environmental literacy levels and their attitudes towards a sustainable environment', the levels of environmental literacy and attitudes towards a sustainable environment among social studies teacher candidates were examined in terms of demographic variables such as gender, class level, parents' educational status, frequency of reading books, and interest in environmental issues. In this regard, looking at the research results in general, it was concluded that social studies teacher candidates had high levels of environmental literacy. Furthermore, while prospective teachers' environmental literacy levels were found to be significantly higher for female prospective teachers in the context of the gender variable, no significant difference was found in the context of the class variable. However, it was observed that prospective teachers' environmental literacy levels increased in parallel with increases in parental education status, book reading habits, and interest levels in environmental issues. Another important step in the research is the findings section, which examines the attitudes of social studies teacher candidates towards a sustainable environment. In this context, the findings of the research generally show that, unlike the environmental literacy levels of teacher candidates, the attitudes of social studies teacher candidates towards a sustainable environment are at a moderate level. Furthermore, in the context of the gender variable, the attitude levels of social studies teacher candidates are significantly higher in favour of female teacher candidates. On the other hand, while no general difference was observed in terms of class level, a significant difference in favour of second-year students was found between first-year and second-year students. Furthermore, it was observed that as the educational level of parents, the frequency of reading books, and interest in environmental issues increased, the attitudes of teacher candidates towards a sustainable environment increased in parallel. This result is noteworthy in that it parallels the demographic indicators observed for environmental literacy in previous findings. One of the third and most important points of the research is the findings showing the relationship between the two scales. In this context, it reveals that there are meaningful and positive relationships between social studies teacher candidates' environmental literacy levels and their attitudes towards a sustainable environment, both in the sub-dimensions of the scales and in the overall total dimensions. This finding shows that as teacher candidates' environmental literacy levels increase, their attitudes towards environmental sustainability also increase. Based on this point, the results provide strong evidence supporting the main hypothesis of the study.