Environmental Literacy and Practice of Environmental Sustainability among Secondary School Students in Busia District, Eastern Uganda

Abstract

Environmental education is vital to promote knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices to solve environmental problems, in the long run building a sustainable environment for current and future generations. This study aimed at determining the influence of Environmental Literacy (EL) on the practice of Environmental Sustainability (ES) among secondary school students in Busia District in Eastern Uganda. Using parallel convergent mixed methods and cross-sectional survey designs, 466 participants including 409 randomly selected students in 12 secondary schools filled the Environmental Literacy Survey (ELS) tool and questionnaire on the practice of ES. Forty-eight students from 6 randomly selected schools in 6 groups participated in focus group discussion (FGD), and 9 teachers of Geography, Agriculture, and Biology from 3 schools participated in an FGD. The results indicate that the students had a functional level of EL (M = 115.72, SD = 18.27), and a moderate level of practice of ES (M = 38.83, SD = 8.39). There was a significant relationship between EL and ES (r = .446, p < .01) which suggested that the secondary school curriculum yielded a functional EL. The level of EL was higher than the level of practice of ES. We recommend that the teaching profession should address the gap in attitude and practice by balancing the learning experiences in the school curriculum on the environmental knowledge, attitudes towards the environment as well as behaviour and practice of environmental sustainability.