Abstract:

Love and care for nature are part of the emotional bond between humans and nature and form the basis for the development of environmental sensitivity and ecological literacy. Numerous studies indicate that the development of environmental sensitivity must begin systematically and as early as possible, especially in early childhood. For this reason, the attitudes, values and emotions of educators are crucial when it comes to promoting the practice of education for sustainable development in kindergartens, as educators are first and foremost role models and then facilitators of these processes.

The research was conducted with a total sample of N = 167 kindergarten teachers and students of early childhood and preschool education study programme at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka. For the study, the "Love and Care for Nature" scale (Perkins, 2010) with 15 items, adapted to the Croatian language, was used to investigate the assessments and attitudes towards love and care for nature as well as attitudes towards pedagogical practice. The exploratory and confirmatory analysis resulted in a one-factorial solution and an explanation of 72% of the variance. The calculation of the internal reliability of the scale resulted in a coefficient Cronbach alpha α=0.97 and is in line with the original research (Perkins, 2010). The second scale used in this study was the 22-item Environmental Sensitivity Scale (Yesilyurt, Gul & Demir, 2013). The factor analysis revealed three factors that explained 54% of the variance. The internal reliability of the scale was Cronbach alpha α=0.93. The results also showed that the participants rated their emotions of “love and care” for nature with high arithmetic means. The correlation analysis revealed that there were no correlations between the love of nature and the group of participants (students, kindergarten teachers), place of residence, private education related to environmental issues and ESD, and the desire to be educated about these issues. The results showed that there is a positive correlation between the love of nature and the environmental awareness scale. Limitations of the research and implications for further research are included.

Keywords:

Connectedness to nature, love and care for nature, environmental sensitivity, kindergarten teachers, students.