THE QUALITY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS THROUGH ISLAMIC EDUCATION AT SCHOOLS

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to examine the quality of the development of ecological awareness through Islamic Education at schools, i.e. based on Islamic Education teachers' stances to determine the extent to which ecology-related content in elementary school textbooks stimulates the development of students' ecological awareness, and to examine the teachers’ attitudes towards the factors of influence and school activities promoting the development of students' ecological awareness. A theoretical analysis method and a descriptive analytical survey method were used. A survey technique was used to gather data. When it comes to research instruments, the Ecology-related Questionnaire for Teachers (UpN - Kundačina, 1998) and the Ecology Values Scale (SV-3, Kundačina, 1998) were used. The research sample consisted of 120 elementary and 120 high school teachers. The results showed that the teachers found the content in the Islamic religion textbooks not adequately designed to support the development of students' ecological awareness, and confirmed that the teachers do not assign equal importance to all environmental factors of influence and school activities encouraging the development of students' ecological awareness: the greatest influence on young people's attitudes towards ecology exerting family, followed by school, the mass media, peers, while the least influence being exercised by the students' spare time. In conclusion, the need to intensify Islamic educational school activities developing the quality of students’ ecological awareness is highlighted.