The Education for Sustainable Development Project in Hong Kong

Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people's development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is not well understood. Past research indicates that geographic context can play a role, while social factors such as age and gender can have a more significant impact on predicting attitudes and behaviors than formal education. Few studies have systematically examined the relationships between education and environmental attitudes and behaviors among youth in Hong Kong. This article reports the findings of a study comparing secondary school students' environmental attitudes and behaviors with age and related factors in 2 international schools and 2 government schools in Hong Kong. Students' attitudes and behaviors were compared based on school type (curriculum), while we additionally compared the significance of social factors and attitudes on students' behaviors. Attitudes were measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the NEP for Children (NEPC), the most commonly used, internationally standardized tools for investigating environmental attitudes and values of adults and young people for comparative purposes. We compared NEP/NEPC scores and student self-reported environmental behaviors using a short questionnaire. No significant differences were found in attitudes or behaviors based on school type. However we did observe a significant effect of gender and age on students' attitudes, and a significant correlation of student attitudes in the NEP with students' self-reports regarding air conditioning consumption. This study builds a foundation for cross-national studies and for evaluating the impact of curricula over time.

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Environmental attitudes and behaviors among secondary students in Hong Kong

Jackson

Pang

Brown

et al. 2016

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development

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The Education for Sustainable Development Project in Hong Kong

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Environmental attitudes and behaviors among secondary students in Hong Kong

Environmental attitudes and behaviors among secondary students in Hong Kong

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