Abstract:

Most of the social awareness is gained at the pre-school, primary school and secondary school education stage. On the other hand, the development of students’ behaviors and environmental awareness, including forestry and wildlife, is directly related to the level of consciousness and awareness of teachers. The aim of this study is to measure the knowledge level and awareness of primary school teachers about forest fires and get their opinion on the methodology of effective training to increase the students’ awareness. In the study, a survey was conducted with primary school teachers in randomly selected primary schools, taking into account their social and economic conditions in Bursa. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and principal component analysis were used for data analyses. As a result of the analyses, no gender and age-related differences were observed in the knowledge and awareness levels of primary teachers about forest fires. Teachers think that their level of knowledge is sufficient, but the results showed that they do not have enough knowledge about forests, the environmental effects of forests and the consequences of forest fires. Based on these results, it is recommended that teachers of primary school, who undertake an important mission such as the education of children in society, should be given effective training by the Directorate General of Forestry in coordination with the Ministry of National Education, universities, public and non-governmental organizations.

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