Need analysis

The project started with the training needs analysis. The needs analysis aim was to get understanding of the existing situation of the in-service training in the field of renewable energy domain at European level, by identifying:

• The teachers’ interest and perception on the renewable energy domain;

• The current situation concerning the renewable energy topic in curricula in high schools at different

levels of the educational system, i. e., micro level — that is the level of didactic situations at classroom level, mezzo-level — that is the level of school and the community where the school functions, macro level — that is the level of curricula at national level;

• The teachers’ willingness to improve their knowledge in the domain of sustainable energy subjects

and didactics of the discipline. The first year of the project was dedicated to this analysis.

The needs analysis has been performed based on a questionnaire developed in partnership and addressed to teaching staff at pre-university level from different countries, teaching different disciplines. A total of 210 teachers responded to the questionnaire from the participating countries: Greece (29 respondents), Germany (8 respondents), Belgium (8 respondents), Italy (11 respondents), Turkey (60 respondents), Poland (50 respondents), Romania (44 respondents). The respondents’ distribution was the following: 129 females, 81 males; 39.5 average age; 14.8 average years of activity; Teaching subjects: Humanities (languages & social sciences): 47 respondents; Mathematics and/or computer sciences: 90 respondents; Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geography): 25 respondents; Technical disciplines (engineers): 48 respondents.

The questionnaire comprised 32 statements to test the opinion of the teaching staff, focusing on: general appreciation of the utility of renewable energy as teaching subject; the existing teachers’

competencies necessary to teach the period of this analysis subject; the place of the subject in the curriculum; teachers’ willingness to improve their knowledge; information sources accessed by the teachers; appreciation of the interest related to specific study chapters. Each statement was assessed using the scale: strongly agree (4p) / agree (3p); disagree (2p) / strongly disagree (1p); not able to answer (n). The opinion of the teachers’ regarding the Sustainable energy domain is analyzed considering their answers to the groups of questions. Only the main findings are presented in this paper, as considered important for further interpretations of the project activities and results.

a. General appreciation of the domain

The group of questions aimed to assess the general appreciation of the subject of renewable energy addressed the teachers’ perception of their own appreciation, of their students’ and of the community appreciation of this subject. The teachers declared a good appreciation, but considering the students’ and community’s ones, there were recorded many non-answers.

This finding leaded to the conclusion that the subject of renewable energy is not a subject of public debate in schools at a large scale.