Perceptions and attitudes regarding bioenergy among science teachers: results from a cross-national survey

ABSTRACT

The role of school teachers is crucial for promoting energy and environmental education in schools, and also instilling pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors among young students. However, studies are limited when it comes to analyzing teachers' perceptions and attitudes (PAs) related to the renewable energy technologies such as bioenergy from a cross-national perspective. The present study analyzed science teachers' PAs related to bioenergy based on data collected from schools in Finland and India. The sample size consisted of 50 science teachers from 10 high schools in these two countries. The study found that the majority of the science teachers had positive PAs regarding bioenergy in both of the countries. However, their willingness to pay more for using bioenergy did not appear to be very positive. In general, the positive PAs related to bioenergy among the science teachers should be encouraging for the educators and policy makers who are aiming to introduce renewable energy education in schools as part of the science education curricula in both of the countries.

KEYWORDS:

• bioenergy
• science teachers
• perceptions and attitudes
• Finland
• India

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the manuscript. The authors are also thankful to the schools and teachers for their cooperation in the study. The authors would like to thank R. Saikia and T. Mehta from The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India, for their assistance in conducting the surveys in the selected schools in New Delhi and Bengaluru.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Additional information

Funding

The Postdoctoral research grant [grant number 085037] from the Kone Foundation (Helsinki, Finland) is greatly acknowledged for realizing this study.