INONU UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION April 2010/ Volume. 11, Issue. 1, pp. 133-152 ISSN: 1300–2899 © 2010 Inonu University Faculty of Education The Scale on Environmentally Aware Teachers’ Qualities: A Validity and Reliability Study Fatma ŞAŞMAZ ÖREN Gülbin KIYICI Ertuğrul ERDOĞMUŞ Ömer Seyfettin SEVİNÇ Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Education Abstract This study was performed to develop the scale on “Environmentally Aware Teachers’ Qualities.” In order to conduct the validity and reliability studies, the scale was administered to 234 prospective teachers attending Demirci Faculty of Education at Celal Bayar University. For the overall validity of the scale, its content, construct and face validities were examined. The reliability analysis was performed by computing the item-total correlation, Cronbach’s Alpha (internal consistency coefficient) and Spearman Brown split-half correlation. Furthermore, for reliability, two groups including the lower 27% and upper 27% were created using their total scores, and the difference between the item-mean scores of these groups was examined using the independent samples t-test. Following all validity and reliability studies, the researcher obtained a scale consisting of 27 items and four factors. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.94, and explains 54% of the total variance. Consequently, it was found that the scale on “Environmentally Aware Teachers’ Qualities” is a valid and reliable one. Furthermore, in terms of gender, the scores of prospective teachers included in the sample showed a significant difference in favor of females, whereas there was no significant difference in terms of department and grade. Keywords: Environmental awareness, teacher qualities, scale development, validity-reliability SUMMARY “Although its roots could be traced back to much earlier periods of history, environmental problems actually began to be felt in the aftermath of the industrial revolution and turned into one of the challenges threatening humanity particularly from the second half of the 20 th century onwards” (Görmez, 1997; p.7). Furthermore, “due to the growing population and industrialization, the amount and qualities of waste materials produced as a result of consumption have amounted to such a degree that it is not anymore possible for the nature to absorb the wastes emitted in an uncontrolled manner” (Akben & Sungur, 1994:70). Thus, it becomes first and foremost indispensable to promote individuals’ level of awareness concerning the problems in question. In