Teachers’ beliefs and practices about the environment and teaching about the environment: the case of Black City (Baku, Azerbaijan)

Thesis

Teachers’ beliefs about the environment and their classroom practices have significant implications for environmental and societal outcomes globally. While previous research has explored teachers’ environmental beliefs, limited attention has been given to how these beliefs influence instructional practices, particularly in Azerbaijan. This study investigates the environmental beliefs of secondary school geography teachers in Azerbaijan and examines how these beliefs are enacted in their classroom practice. The research adopts the New Ecological Paradigm as a theoretical framework to formulate interview questions, given its relevance to anthropocentric and ecocentric worldviews. Data were collected over four months through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations in three schools located in Black City, one of the most polluted areas of Baku. Using purposeful sampling, five geography teachers were selected for the study. Observations followed interviews to assess the alignment between teachers’ stated beliefs and their teaching practices. Thematic inductive analysis revealed that teachers predominantly held anthropocentric environmental beliefs, which appeared along a spectrum rather than as a binary construct. Additionally, the findings indicate that teachers primarily focused on knowledge transmission (the ‘what’ of environmental teaching) through indirect learning methods (the ‘how’). The integration of behaviour-building and skill development was observed only occasionally. Alignment was observed between teachers’ espoused and enacted beliefs about the environment. However, a disconnect emerged in their approach to teaching about the environment: while all teachers emphasised the importance of direct learning in interviews, their actual classroom practices varied. As the first study (to the best of my knowledge) exploring the intersection of teachers’ environmental beliefs and instructional practices in Azerbaijan, this research provides valuable insights for future studies and practical advancements in teacher education and environmental education.

Authors: Mehdiyeva, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-6qg4e9k5g
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: practice; beliefs; environmental education; teachers
• Subjects: Environmental education