Perceptions of Teachers in Training on Water Issues and Their Relationship to the SDGs

Abstract

Water conservation is essential for any activity, as well as for the survival of both human and other living beings. It is commonly associated with access to clean water and sanitation, or even to unsustainable production and consumption, or sustainable cities and communities. However, there is increasing awareness of emerging issues related to water resources and their impact or relationship with other issues, such as climate change, access to food, health and well-being, or biodiversity (marine and terrestrial). Therefore, this study is aimed at understanding the perception of students of the Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education concerning water issues and their relationship Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; number 2,3,6,11,12,13,14 and 15) in a coastal urban context. The study used a qualitative design, in which 59 student teachers were interviewed. The instrument was validated by 12 experts. The content analysis indicates that student teachers understand that there is an environmental problem in relation to water caused by human behaviour, and that its effects have an impact on other areas that are related to the SDGs included in the 2030 Agenda.

Romanian Students’ Environment-Related Routines during COVID-19 Home Confinement: Water, Plastic, and Paper Consumption

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“…Narrowing down the investigation to the students' showering routines, British researchers highlighted the impact that administrative measures and persuasive campaigns had on the water consumption in Bristol [50], but the specificity of the local context makes it difficult to replicate the research in a different cultural and administrative context. The gap in researching students' awareness of their water consumption habits, their attitudes toward saving water, or the issue of water management was highlighted in the scientific literature [51].…”

Teachers’ Perceptions of Immigrant Students and Families: A Qualitative Study

“…After four evaluation rounds, those questions that did not score 80% as adequate or totally adequate in content validity were also eliminated. In this way, we were able to determine the coherence, adequacy, and consistency of the questions in addition to their content validity [46]. Thus, out of a total of 42 initial questions, our final interview ended up with 36 questions.…”

An international study of high school teachers’ experience of incorporating water resources in their teaching

“…First, teachers may not wish to incorporate such a topic in their classrooms. Ruiz-Garzón et al (2021) analyzed student teachers' perception of water resources and concluded that teachers realized people's unsustainable habits could negatively impact water resources and raised there is a need for raising social awareness. In other studies, scholars (Berglund and Gericke, 2016;Sinakou et al, 2019;Eli et al, 2020) suggested that teachers generally lack interest in implementing sustainability topics like water resources in their classrooms if these are not explicitly needed in their disciplines.…”