Luís Dourado

Ecoethics studies the moral relationship among human beings, the environment and its non-human components, whereas education for ecoethics involves a reflexion on how to live, how to make environmental choices and how to think about the consequences of human activities. To promote this reflexion, teachers must be able to teach subjects related to ecoethics, having adequate teacher training in the field. Thus, it was considered pertinent to investigate if and how ecoethics appears in the guiding documents for teachers' practices and in initial and continuing training courses for Portuguese biology and geology teachers, as well as whether these teachers feel they need training in ecoethics. To achieve this, document analysis was carried out, and a questionnaire with both close- and open-ended questions was applied at a national level. The main results show that little emphasis is given to ecoethics both in the guiding documents and in initial and continuing training courses for Portuguese BG teachers; most teachers say that they have not dealt with ecoethics issues in their initial and ongoing teacher training but consider them essential. Given the teachers’ influence on students, a focus on teacher training in ecoethics is essential so that they can contribute to solving environmental problems.

Ecoethics is a philosophical subject that studies the moral relationship of human beings concerning the environment and its non-human components. Education for ecoethics addresses issues of how to live, how to make environmental choices, and how to think about the consequences of human activities. It is important that, firstly, the concept of ecoethics is clear to all involved, including teachers and students. Knowing that teachers’ conceptions strongly influence their practice, and since no studies with teachers in active service were found, it was considered pertinent to investigate the conceptions of Portuguese Biology and Geology teachers about the concept of ecoethics. For data collection, a questionnaire was applied at a national level, with a related open-ended question. Categories of analysis were defined a priori and then the responses were classified based on those categories. The main results show that most respondents define ecoethics as ethics applied to the environment; almost a tenth relate the concept to issues concerning the preservation of life or the quality of life. Given the influence of teachers on students’ education, a focus on teachers’ training in ecoethics is essential as a starting point for an effective approach to ecoethics issues that can contribute to solving environmental problems.