An Investigation of The Relationship Between Ecological and Materialistic Values of Turkish Teacher Candidates

Abstract

Materialistic values are important factors that guide individuals’ philosophy of life. For this reason, it is thought that individuals’ environmental attitudes and ecological world views may be related to their materialistic values. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between the materialistic and ecological values of prospective teachers. The study sample consists of 685 prospective teachers studying in a Faculty of Education at a university in northern Turkey. In the 2016-2017 academic year, prospective teachers who participated in this study were studying in first and last grade level of five different departments: Social Studies (n=115); Science (n=149); primary education (n=151); Mathematics (n=134); and pre-school teaching (n=136). A questionnaire including the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEPS), and the Material Values Scale (MVS) was used to gather data. The mean scores of both scales were based on the interpretation of the research findings, and the relationship between materialistic and environmental values of sample and variables such as gender, grade level, the field of teaching, and environmental education were examined. The correlations among materialistic and environmental values and environmental education were also examined. The results of the study demonstrated that prospective teachers have high levels of eco-centric values and moderate levels of materialistic values; also, these values have significant relations with some of the variables. The findings indicated there were negative or positive weak correlations between some variables.