Between green imagination and ecological awareness: environmental identity and teachers’ beliefs in pre-service education

Abstract

This study examines environmental identity among pre-service teachers, focusing on the relationship between affective connection with nature, attitudes toward environmental protection, and the representational frameworks through which nature is imagined. Situated within the fields of educational research and environmental education, the study addresses a relevant gap by approaching environmental identity not only as a measurable disposition, but also as a meaning-making process shaped during initial teacher education. A quantitative descriptive–correlational design was integrated with a qualitative free-association task. Data were collected from 83 pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education program using the Revised Environmental Identity Scale (EID-R) and an open-ended prompt inviting participants to report immediate associations with the concept of nature. Quantitative analyses included descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, correlations, and exploratory factor analysis, while qualitative responses were examined through inductive thematic content analysis. Results indicate moderately high levels of both connection with nature and attitudes toward environmental protection, with no statistically significant differences across school contexts. However, qualitative findings show that these orientations are predominantly supported by aesthetic and naturalistic representations of nature, with limited reference to human agency or socio-ecological interdependence. Overall, the study highlights the value of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to better understand the structure and development of environmental identity in pre-service teacher education.