Views of Pre-School Teacher Candidates on Sustainable Development

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine the views of pre-school teacher candidates about sustainable development. The method of the research is case study. The study group of the research consists of 5 pre-service teachers studying in the third grade and 5 teacher candidates studying in the fourth grade, in total 10 teacher candidates in the education faculty of a state university in the Black Sea region, in the department of pre-school teaching. A semi-structured interview form was used as a data collection tool. The data were analyzed according to content analysis. As a result of the research, pre-school teacher candidates researched and learned the information about sustainable development within the scope of the lesson, but they did not have sufficient knowledge before, they would not have difficulty in giving sustainable development education to children, the sustainable development issue could be applied in the pre-school period, the disadvantage of giving it in the pre-school period was that the child's age. They stated that it may be because they have difficulty in understanding the subject or that the teacher cannot explain the subject according to the level of the child. It was determined that most of the pre-service teachers agreed on the view that the sustainable development education to be given in the pre-school period will create environmental awareness in children and provide permanent learning.