What Do Future Primary School Teachers Know about Conscious Consumption and How Do They Behave?
Keywords:
Conscious consumer, pre-service classroom teacher, consumerism, rational consumptionAbstract
Unconscious consumption of resources by individuals leads to many economic, social and environmental problems. Therefore, conscious consumerism and consumer education are criticallly important to develop knowledge and skills to make informed and rational choices that take into account social values and goals. In this context, the research was conducted as a descriptive case study to assess the awareness of pre-service school teachers towards the concept of 'conscious consumer'. The study was conducted with a cohort of 60 pre-service teacher enrolled as second-year students in primary education programs. The results show that the participants have insufficient knowledge about the conscious consumer. Their conceptualisations are primarily manifested through limited and superficial patterns of behaviour. Their practical behaviour related to conscious consumer in everyday life appears to be limited. In addition, the definitions and behaviours articulated by the participants are largely consistent with the principles of rational consumption. Importantly, almost all the pre-service teachers did not demonstrate behaviours associated with ethical and socially responsible consumption in their daily lives, suggesting a lack of prioritisation of these dimensions.
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References
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