Social Studies Teacher Candidates’ Views on Environmental Justice

Abstract

Environmental justice, which is related to the concept of social justice; It can be defined as the equal protection of everyone from harmful environmental influences, regardless of their age, culture, ethnicity, gender and race. Therefore, the right to live in a safe and healthy environment is the main emphasis of environmental justice. In addition, the participation of citizens in the decisions to be taken on environmental issues and taking into account their concerns about the environment are important aspects of the concept of environmental justice. The focus of the social studies course on daily life, its geographical, human and social analysis of environmental issues and its aim of citizenship education carry this course to an important place in gaining the understanding of environmental justice to individuals. For this reason, social studies teachers are expected to be aware of the concept of environmental justice and to carry out activities that can improve this concept in their students. The aim of this research is to determine the environmental justice views of social studies teacher candidates. The data of this study, which was carried out in the basic qualitative research design, were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed inductively. It is seen that social studies teacher candidates define environmental justice as fair distribution of resources, protection of natural resources and animals, high quality of life and being equidistant from dangers. Pre-service teachers who stated that environmental justice education will raise conscious and environmentally friendly individuals think that this concept is directly related to social studies. In line with the results of the study, pre-service teachers suggest placing the concept of environmental justice in the social studies curriculum and creating examples of activities that teachers can benefit from in line with this concept.