An Assessment of the Training Needs of Women Primary Teachers of Environment in the 17th District of the City of Tehran

The purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize the educational needs of women teachers of environment at primary school level who, as the target population for the study, were selected from the 17th district of the City of Tehran (Iran). 196 teachers were selected through the stratified random sampling technique from16 primary schools. The Borich needs assessment model was used to assess the perceived level of importance given by and competence of women teachers regarding 36 professional competencies. Training needs were analyzed and ranked using Mean Weighted Discrepancy Scores (MWDS). From the results of the Borich needs assessment model, four competencies were identified as having a greater requirement for environmental education by women primary school teachers, as follows: teaching methodologies, experiments and activities to facilitate the teaching of environmental subjects, ways of infusing motivation in field trips and evaluation of environmental education. All of these competencies refer to the competence of designing and implementing environmental education.