Creationism and innatism of teachers in 26 countries

Abstract

Analyzing teachers' conceptions in 26 countries, our work identifies correlations between beliefs in creationism and in innatism, as well as correlations with strong believing in God, practising religion and some political opinions (anti-secularism, for a strong central power). We used the questionnaire validated in the BIOHEAD-Citizen project and we added to the data collected by this project (in 18 countries) those then collected in 8 other countries. The sampling is the same in each country: 1/3 primary school teachers; 1/3 biology teachers in secondary schools; 1/3 language teachers in secondary schools; with, into each third, half of in-service and half of pre-service teachers. There are very important differences among the countries, as well for conceptions related to evolution as for conceptions related to genetic determinism, showing interaction between science and society, and interaction between scientific knowledge, values and social practices. Less a country is economically developed, more teachers believe in God, in Creation and in Genetic Determinism. These results are important to be considered when trying to improve biology teaching for more citizenship in primary and secondary schools, as well as in teachers' training.

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