The relationship between self-efficacy and environmental literacy of high school students

Abstract

Self-efficacy is the perception of one’s ability to achieve goals, which is part of the affective aspect of environmental literacy. Self-efficacy can encourage individuals to take pro-environmental behavior as one of the actions to reduce environmental problems. This study aims to find out the relationship between self-efficacy and environmental literacy of students at SMAN 9 Malang. This correlational research was conducted on science students in the eleventh and twelfth grades at SMAN 9 Malang, which were determined using a stratified random sampling technique. Data collection employed self-efficacy tests adopted from Bandura and environmental literacy tests adopted from Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey (MSELS) while data analysis utilized Pearson correlation test. The results revealed the significant value was 0.00<0.05 while the relationship degree was 0.48 (moderate category) and the correlation coefficient value was 0.48>0.12 (significant correlation) which means that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy and environmental literacy. The higher self-efficacy will lead to higher environmental literacy. Students who have higher levels of self-efficacy will be more pro-environmental behavior than students who have lower levels of self-efficacy. Therefore, parents were encouraged to motivate and support students in completing school assignments, facing difficulties in learning, and attaining learning achievements. Teachers were encouraged to educate students to improve their environmental literacy. Schools need to impose serious penalties on students who violate environmental protection and conservation rules to improve their attitudes towards the environment.