Surveying Teachers' Perspectives: Insights from the Negative Attitudes Toward Robots Scale (NARS) in Croatia

Background: Integrating novel technologies in the classroom has been a longstanding issue in education. Teachers often express reluctance due to negative attitudes. These attitudes may stem from various factors, including a lack of familiarity with the technology, concerns about its impact on traditional teaching methods, and a perceived threat to the teacher's role in the classroom. Motivation: Teachers' attitudes can potentially affect students' exposure to technology and shape their attitudes and perceptions. Also, attitudes toward robots can influence human-robot interaction in the classroom and beyond. Considering the increasing presence of robots in everyday life, it is important to assess the teachers' attitudes toward robots. This study contributes to the existing literature by offering insights into an unexplored population-Croatian teachers. Methods: This pilot study employed a quantitative primary data research design. Data was collected using a Google Forms survey. The survey consisted of demographic and backgroundrelated questions and the Negative Attitudes Toward Robots Scale (NARS). The NARS measures three dimensions of negative attitudes, namely negative attitudes toward situations of interaction with robots, social influence of robots, and emotions in interaction with robots. Results: The sample consisted of 62 teachers, 16 (26%) male and 46 (74%) female. The internal consistency of a Croatian translation of the NARS was acceptable $(\alpha>0,7)$ in total and for all three sub-scales. Analysis showed that teachers using robots in teaching had less negative attitudes toward robots, yet the female sample exhibited more negative attitudes than male teachers. Unexpectedly, teachers in this study expressed more positive attitudes toward robots compared to Japanese students in the original study. Conclusion: Given that attitudes toward technology are often shaped by cultural factors, studying them in different contexts and countries contributes to a deeper understanding, leading to more effective adoption. The first contribution of this paper is piloting the translation of the NARS and an examination of its reliability and validity. The second contribution is studying the attitudes and providing insights into Croatian teachers' attitudes towards robots. Examining the attitudes toward robots through the lense of Eurobarometer, NARS, and teachers' characteristics, such as prior experience, gender, and educational context revealed general concerns and highlighted significant implications for the educational context.