Abstract
The PISA studies provide unique opportunities to investigate the competencies and attitudes of 15-year-olds across the world. Past research investigating environmental awareness (EA) in PISA 2006 found associations between EA and science-related competencies and attitudes. Investigating EA in the PISA studies may have important implications for education for sustainable development (ESD): results may show which factors should be considered in educational interventions to enhance students’ EA. Cross-national analyses of EA may provide insights into the predictors of EA on a local, national or international level. This study investigates the individual, school, and country level predictors of EA in PISA 2015 (365,194 students, 12,594 schools, 53 countries). The multi-level regression analysis on EA reveals that most of the variance is located at the student level. On the individual level, variables related to science learning in school are associated with EA across all countries. This study also compares the degrees of EA in the 2006 and 2015 populations. The results show similar degrees of EA in 2006 and 2015. Altogether, the study provides cross-country evidence on important aspects that should be addressed in successful ESD programs.
Highlights
In 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a special report on the state of climate change and the risks of further global warming [1]
What we find in the literature are two studies that have explored pro-environmental attitude (PEA) in larger subsamples of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)-2006-population [33,35]
The authors did not find an effect of the development status of the country, though in another study they found associations between country development and environmental concern [36]. These findings suggest that, to some degree, PEA differs between countries with regard to economic or environmental differences
Summary
In 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a special report on the state of climate change and the risks of further global warming [1]. The IPCC stresses the importance of a sustainable development to conserve the planet and give present and future generations the chance to meet their own needs [2]. EA refers to the knowledge and understanding of current environmental problems [6,9,10], for example the importance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere for anthropogenic climate change [1]. In their meta-analysis, Bamberg and Möser [6] identified EA as an important predictor of PEB (see [8]). There is a strong agreement that ESD should focus on the transfer of knowledge, and on the development of affective qualities and attitudes towards the environment as important preconditions to enhance PEB [10,11,12,13,14,15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
