Creationist conceptions of primary and secondary school teachers in nineteen countries

Abstract

Our work is the first international comparison of teachers' conceptions on Evolution / Creation, using several questions on precise and large samples to identify the importance of creationist ideas in the context of their national, religious, economic, cultural and political backgrounds. This research concerns 19 countries: 13 in Europe, 5 in Africa and one in Middle East: 7050 teachers filled out a questionnaire including several questions on Evolution vs. Creation. Half of them are in-service teachers, the other being at the last year of University before teaching. They are teaching in Primary Schools as well as in Secondary Schools (Biology, or Language). The percentages of teachers' radical creationist conceptions differ more from one country to another (from 2% to 90%) than among religions inside each country. There are some, but not so important, differences between Biology teachers and other teachers. The teachers' conceptions also differ with the level of teacher training: more they are instructed (in any matter), more they are evolutionist.