Examination of the relationship between primary school teachers' environmental education self-efficacy and their attitudes to the sustainable environment (Amasya province)

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between environmental education self-efficacy and attitudes towards sustainable environment of primary school teachers and to search whether their environmental education self-efficacy and attitudes towards sustainable environment differ according to their socio-demographic status. As the method of the research, the relational survey model, one of the descriptive research models, was used. The universe of the research is all primary school teachers working in primary schools affiliated to Amasya Provincial Directorate of National Education in the 2022-2023 academic year. Its sample consists of 421 primary school teachers. The data were collected using the "Environmental Education-Self-Efficacy Scale" and the "Sustainable Environmental Attitude Scale". Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, independent t test, ANOVA, Mann Whitney U and Kruskall Wallıs tests, and Pearson correlation coefficient. As a result of the research, it was seen that there is a positive, low-level, significant relationship between the environmental education self-efficacy of primary school teachers and their attitudes towards sustainable environment. In addition, it was concluded that the environmental education self-efficacy levels of primary school teachers were at a moderate level, and their attitudes towards the sustainable environment were at a high level. Keywords: self-efficacy, sustainable environment, environmental education, primary school teachers