CLIMATE CHANGE ATTITUDES, RELATIONSHIP TO NATURE AND PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR OF STUDENTS FROM THREE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

Climate change is not a future problem, it is a significant variation of weather conditions becoming warmer, wetter or drier. It is the longer-term trend that differentiates climate change from natural weather variability. The aim of this research was to determine primary school students’ knowledge and attitudes related to climate change among primary school students (n = 473) in the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Portugal using a questionnaire survey. The dimensions of climate change knowledge, environmental attitudes and values, pro-environmental behaviour, and climate change attitudes were measured and analysed. The results showed gender differences in favour of girls in all the dimensions studied, except for climate change knowledge, where the results of boys and girls were comparable. In an international comparison, UK children scored higher on climate change knowledge and climate change attitudes dimensions. A multiple regression analysis showed the dimensions of nature preservation and appreciation of nature as the strongest positive predictors of pro-environmental behaviour and the dimensions of climate change knowledge and nature preservation as the strongest predictors of climate change belief. The results suggest the importance and implications of the wider societal debate on climate-related personal dimensions. The interconnectedness of environmental and climate-related topics at the primary school level is also evident. Keywords: climate change attitudes, climate change education, climate change knowledge, environmental attitudes, pro-environmental behaviour, primary school