Environmental knowledge as a factor of personal environmental responsibility: implications for environmental education in Serbia

Abstract

This study investigates whether and to which degree the knowledge of environmental protection issues influences the formation of personal environmental responsibility among primary school students in Serbia. A personal environmental responsibility scale and an environmental knowledge test were used to gather data in this study. The results of the study showed that based on the environmental knowledge of the students we can predict 18% of their environmental responsibility. The reason for lower prediction of personal environmental responsibility lies in the lack of conceptual and procedural environmental knowledge. In a broader sense, reasons for such a result can be found in the structure of the curriculum, teachers' training, as well as in the very organisation of curricular and extracurricular environmental activities regarding environmental education. The acquired results can help define educational and training guidelines in the areas of formal environmental education concerning the development of environmental knowledge and environmental responsibility among young people in Serbia.