English abstract
his study aims to measure the perceptions of social studies teachers in relation to
sustainability and their attitudes towards including the priority of the environment and
natural resources, as stated by the vision of Oman 2040, in the social studies curricula for
grades (5-12). The researcher employed the descriptive approach and the sample included
(339) male and female teachers of social studies in the governorates of Muscat, North Al-
Batinah, Al-Dakhiliyah, North Sharqiyah, Al-Dhahirah, and Dhofar.
The researcher applied two tools to carry out this study: a scale to measure grades
(5-12) social studies teachers' perceptions of sustainability and a scale to measure those
teachers' attitudes towards including the priority of the environment and natural resources in
social studies curricula according to Oman Vision 2040. The scale measuring the perceptions
consists of eight factors and 38 items whereas the scale investigating the attitudes includes
seven goals regarding prioritizing the environment and natural resources. The arbitrators
confirmed the validity of the two tools and the reliability of the tools was verified using
Cronbach's alpha as the stability coefficient for the perception test reached (0.81), and for
the attitudes was (0.80).
The study concludes that the general average of social studies teachers' perceptions
of sustainability was high with an arithmetic mean reaching (3.56). Moreover, the results
shows that the median for the attitudes towards including the priority of the environment and
natural resources of Oman Vision 2040 in the social studies curricula for grades (5-12)
ranged between (2-5) and that the most frequent median was related to three objectives
regarding prioritizing the environment and natural resources.
In relation to the variables of gender and specialization, the results indicates that there
were no statistically significant differences at a significance level of (0.05 ≥ α) concerning
the perceptions of grades (5-12) social studies teachers towards sustainability in regard to all
factors. Furthermore, the value of the Spearman coefficient for the perceptions of social
studies teachers for grades (5-12) towards sustainability in general and their attitudes
towards including the priority of the environment and natural resources of Oman Vision 2040
in the social studies curricula, the correlation level ranged between (0.07-0.11).
In light of the previous results, the researcher recommends developing social studies
curricula in line with the goals of the sustainable development and the priority of the
environment and natural resources according to Oman’s Vision 2040 through the
implementation of workshops in cooperation between the Oman Vision Implementation
Office and the Ministry of Education in order to raise the level of knowledge and awareness
of the objectives of the vision. The researcher also recommends preparing a training program
for social studies teachers that meets the needs of teachers in the field of developing tools
and methods of teaching in relation to sustainable development and natural resources.
Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, Oman vision 2040.
