High school chemistry teachers’ attitudes toward incorporating environmental education topics into the chemistry curriculum in Israel

Abstract This study examined chemistry teachers’ attitudes toward incorporating environmental education into high-school instruction and its potential to strengthen scientific literacy and sustainability awareness. It aimed to characterize teachers’ attitudes toward addressing environmental issues, identify environmental education topics perceived as suitable for the chemistry curriculum, and explore how seniority and graduate education relate to willingness to teach this content. Semi-structured interviews with 33 Israeli Arabic-sector high-school chemistry teachers were conducted. Despite broad acknowledgment of the importance and relevance of environmental education, integration into chemistry was found to be curtailed by the rigid curriculum, instruction time, and the pressure of standardized assessment. The teachers reported greater readiness to address topics with explicit chemical grounding such as air and water pollution, atmospheric chemistry, and global warming, but more hesitancy toward interdisciplinary themes such as biodiversity and consumption patterns. Willingness was higher among teachers with greater seniority, master’s degrees, and men. These findings help delineate the prerequisite conditions for embedding environmental education within subject-specific chemistry curricula and can inform the design of supportive policies and teacher learning. Recommendations include curricular adjustments, targeted professional development, and pedagogical guidance.