The role of environmental knowledge among secondary school students in Czechia
PDF

Keywords

environmental knowledge
quantitative research
secondary school
students
education for sustainable development

How to Cite

Buchtele, R., Plachtová, P., & Lapka, M. (2026). The role of environmental knowledge among secondary school students in Czechia. Economics and Environment, 95(4), 901. https://doi.org/10.34659/eis.2025.95.4.901

Abstract

Understanding how secondary students value environmental knowledge, especially in the context of sustainable development, is one of the keys to addressing current and future environmental challenges. The aim of the study is to evaluate the significance of environmental knowledge among secondary school students. This study employed a quantitative research approach, with a total of 147 students participating. Environmental knowledge has been found to be crucial for students, as it helps them understand their personal responsibility toward the environment. Moreover, they view it as an essential knowledge base that every individual in society should possess. The interviewed students fully recognise the role of school as an important source of environmental knowledge. However, they consider the more dynamic sources to be the most influential, such as social networks and the internet. Their own observations in nature and insights from family and environmental centres are also perceived as very important.

PDF

References

Alaydin, E., Demirel, G., Altin, S., & Altin, A. (2014). Environmental Knowledge of Primary School Students: Zonguldak (Turkey) Example. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 141, 1150-1155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.195

Bonal, X., & Fontdevila, C. (2017). Is Education for Sustainable Development the means to bring about inclusive development? Between idealist and alternative positions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 24, 73-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.02.002

Bruckmeier, K. (2020). Economics and Sustainability: Social-Ecological Perspectives. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Calvente, A, Kharrazi, A, Kudo, S, & Savaget, P. (2018). Non-Formal Environmental Education in a Vulnerable Region: Insights from a 20-Year Long Engagement in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sustainability, 10(11), 4247. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114247

Chekima, B., & Chekima, K. (2019). The Impact of Human Values and Knowledge on Green Products Purchase Intention. In Gbadamosi, A. (Ed.), Exploring the Dynamics of Consumerism in Developing Nations (pp. 266-283). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7906-9.ch012

de Leeuw, A., Valois, P., & Seixas, R. (2014). Understanding High School Students’ Attitude, Social Norm, Perceived Control and Beliefs to Develop Educational Interventions on Sustainable Development. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 144, 1200-1209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.160

De Souza Lauretto, M., Nakano, F., de Bragança Pereira, C. A., & Stern, J. M. (2012). Intentional sampling by goal optimization with decoupling by stochastic perturbation. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1490, 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4759603

Disman, M. (2011). Jak se vyrábí sociologická znalost: příručka pro uživatele. Prague: Karolinum. (in Czech).

European Commission. (2019). Communication from the Commission to The European Parliament, The European Council, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and The Committee of the Regions, The European Green Deal, Pub. L. No. 52019DC0640. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2019%3A640%3AFIN

European Investment Bank. (2021). The EIB Climate Survey. The climate crises in a COVID-19 world: call for a green recovery. https://www.eib.org/attachments/thematic/the_eib_climate_survey_2020_2021_en.pdf

Galván-Mendoza, O., González-Rosales, V. M., Leyva-Hernández, S. N., Arango-Ramírez, P. M., & Velasco-Aulcy, L. (2022). Environmental knowledge, perceived behavioral control, and employee green behavior in female employees of small and medium enterprises in Ensenada, Baja California. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1082306

Goldman, D., Assaraf, O. B. Z., & Shaharabani, D. (2012). Influence of a Non-formal Environmental Education Programme on Junior High-School Students’ Environmental Literacy, 35(3), 515-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2012.749545

Gugssa, M. A. (2023). Characterizing environmental education practices in Ethiopian primary schools. International Journal of Educational Development, 102, 102848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102848

IBM. (2020). Interpreting adjusted residuals in Crosstabs cell statistics. https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/interpreting-adjusted-residuals-crosstabs-cell-statistics

IBM. (2023, December 10). Crosstabs. https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spss-statistics/29.0.0?topic=features-crosstabs

Jaime, M., Salazar, C., Alpizar, F., & Carlsson, F. (2023). Can school environmental education programs make children and parents more pro-environmental? Journal of Development Economics, 161, 103032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.103032

Kong, X., & Jia, F. (2023). Intergenerational transmission of environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behavior: A dyadic relationship. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 89, 102058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102058

Kroufek, R., Cincera, J., Kolenaty, M., Zalesak, J., & Johnson, B. (2023). “I had a spider in my mouth”: What makes students happy in outdoor environmental education programs. Evaluation and Program Planning, 99, 102326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2023.102326

Kurokawa, H., Igei, K., Kitsuki, A., Kurita, K., Managi, S., Nakamuro, M., & Sakano, A. (2023). Improvement impact of nudges incorporated in environmental education on students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Journal of Environmental Management, 325(B), 116612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116612

Mazloumiyan, S., Shobeiri, S. M., Farajollahi, M., & Mohamadi, M. (2012). Blended e-Learning: A New Approach to Environmental Education of Iran High Schools. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 1216-1220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.803

Meadows, D. H., & Club of Rome. (1972). The Limits to growth: A report for the Club of Rome's project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books.

MEVPIS. (2024, August 15). Vzdělávací aktivity. https://www.mevpis.cz/sluzby/vzdelavaci-aktivity-1 (in Czech).

Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. (2024). 1.4 VZDĚLÁVÁNÍ. https://www.cr2030.cz/strategie/kapitoly-strategie/lide-a-spolecnost/1-4-vzdelavani/ (in Czech).

Mošna, F. (2017). Základní statistické metody. Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Education. (in Czech).

Mostafa, M. M. (2007). Gender differences in Egyptian consumers’ green purchase behaviour: the effects of environmental knowledge, concern and attitude. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 31(3), 220-229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2006.00523.x

Nasibulina, A. (2015). Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Ethics. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 214, 1077-1082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.708

Pauw, J. B., Gericke, N., Olsson, D., & Berglund, T. (2015). The Effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development. Sustainability, 7(11), 15693-15717. https://doi.org/10.3390/su71115693

Salazar, C., Jaime, M., Leiva, M., & González, N. (2022). From theory to action: Explaining the process of knowledge attitudes and practices regarding the use and disposal of plastic among school children. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 80, 101777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101777

Sánchez-Carracedo, F., Sureda, B., Moreno-Pino, F. M., & Romero-Portillo, D. (2021). Education for Sustainable Development in Spanish engineering degrees. Case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 294, 126322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126322

Srbinovski, M., Ismaili, M., & Abazi, A. (2011). The Trend of the High School Students’ Level of the Environmental Knowledge in the Republic of Macedonia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 1395-1400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.300

Sulich, A., Rutkowska, M., & Popławski, Ł. (2020). Green jobs, definitional issues, and the employment of young people: An analysis of three European Union countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 262, 110314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110314

Takala, A., & Korhonen-Yrjänheikki, K. (2019). A decade of Finnish engineering education for sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20 (1), 170-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2018-0132

UN. (2012). Future We Want. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/734344?v=pdf

UN. (2015). The 17 Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

UNESCO. (2020). Education for Sustainable Development. A roadmap. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374802

UNESCO. (2021). Getting every school climate-ready. How countries are integrating climate change issues in education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379591

UNESCO. (2022). Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development; Learn for our planet: act for sustainability. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381228

WCED. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf

Zsóka, A., Szerényi, Z. M., Széchy, A., & Kocsis, T. (2013). Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 126-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.11.030

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2025 Economics and Environment

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.