The role of knowledge, attitude, and emotions in Spanish pre-service teachers’ willingness to engage in climate change education

This paper provides insights into the indirect effect of subject matter knowledge on the pre-service teachers’ mitigation action of willingness to include climate change in their future teaching practices. Mediation analysis was conducted to assess the mediating role of emotions and attitudes on direct and indirect mitigation actions with a nationally representative sample of 889 pre-service teachers from Spain. The results show that subject matter knowledge has an indirect effect on pre-service teachers’ willingness to teach and is mediated by emotions and attitudes. Mediation analysis also revealed a relationship between emotional engagement and mitigation actions: students who experience stronger emotions are more likely to take direct and indirect mitigation action, but a more environmentally friendly lifestyle (direct mitigation) is not associated with willingness to engage in climate change education (indirect mitigation). We conclude that educators should consider emotions and attitudes when implementing climate change education.