Opinions and Attitudes of Ethnically Diverse Teachers on Teaching Content in the Subject Nature and Society

Abstract

The research conducted on a sample of 301 participants of Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian nationalities aimed to establish opinions and attitudes of teachers of various ethnic backgrounds with respect to the content of the subject Nature and Society and its educational influence on young school-aged children, i.e. students in lower primary school. Theory analysis, comparative method and analytic-descriptive methods were applied, while the complex and sensitive research structure conditioned the application of various research techniques and related instruments. The research results show that there is a high level of tolerance among teachers of different ethnicities towards nationalities in the surrounding area and that there is absence of ethnic stereotypes. Teachers of different nationalities, i.e. ethnicities, express statistically significant differences towards the social aspects of content in the subject Nature and Society. The final remarks discuss the theoretical and practical consequences of the results obtained. It is concluded that knowledge obtained from this research improves, in the practical sense, issues regarding the teaching methodology of the subject Nature and Society and enriches the content of teaching in lower primary school. In the theoretical sense, it offers a contribution to the clarification of significant connections and relationships regarding educational outcomes in societies to which this research pertains. The results also indicate that it is necessary for the future to enrich and pedagogically innovate content for the subject Nature and Society, so that it encourages teachers and students to establish non-conflicting relationships in interpersonal communication and communication with socially and culturally different groups in the environment they live in as well as in the world in general.