The role and tasks of educators in forming environmental awareness in pre-school children

In today's time, society's focus on understanding how important it is to develop ecological awareness is growing, especially due to the increasingly pronounced consequences that arise from human influence on nature. Within the framework of modern social processes, environmental awareness is becoming an unavoidable topic, especially due to the increasingly present environmental challenges that are mainly the result of the activities that humans undertake on a daily basis. Increasingly pronounced and complex environmental crises have become a daily reality, which further emphasizes the importance of a responsible attitude towards nature. Therefore, it has become essential to develop environmental awareness, in order to enable long-term solutions to environmental challenges. In this light, it is important to continuously work on developing and deepening ecological awareness in all segments of society, because without this foundation it is not possible to achieve effective changes. Educators have a particularly important role in this process, and through their daily work, they should encourage ecological thinking in preschool children. In addition to organizing activities that promote the preservation of the environment, they should also represent a model of behavior by their personal example, thus directly influencing the formation of the child's environmentally conscious personality.