Assessing the Environmental Attitude among Pupil Teachers in Relation To Responsible Environmental Behavior: A Leap towards Sustainable Development

Abstract

Problem statement: Recognizing the importance of ’Environmental Education’ to be introduced in every level of school education, agencies responsible for curriculum reforms and text books preparation in India have made the subject as an integral part. It is felt necessary to investigate whether the teachers, who are disseminating the knowledge, are equipped with environmental attitude and the behavior towards environment so that they may shape up the behavior of their students. Thus, the present study is pertinent to be conducted over trainee teachers perusing B.Ed course intended to hone the skills for future profession and desirable criteria to be a ‘School Teacher’ to ascertain relationship of Responsible Environmental Behavior (REB) with Environmental Attitude (EA) and Scientific Attitude (SA). Approach: Present study involves descriptive survey research with a sample of 300 pupil teachers from randomly selecting four Teachers’ training institute affiliated to University of Calcutta, India. Data is subjected to descriptive statistics, t-test, F-test as well as coefficient of correlation over pre-service and in-service pupil teachers belonging to Science; Commerce and Humanities streams of studies. Results: The result shows low correlation between EA and REB of pupil teachers while there is a significant correlation between REB and SA. Similarly, there are significant differences for both EA and REB between in-service and pre-service teachers whereas a significant effect of courses of study on EA is reported with no significant effect on REB of pupil teachers. Conclusion: The study suggests redesigning activities involved in teachers’ training courses and assessing the determinant attitudes which may lead to responsible behavior of pupil teachers towards the green earth. The curriculum for teacher training should focus on developing scientific attitude irrespective of stream of affiliation of prospective teachers along with opening a field of research, eco-psychology, for further research.