Factors of ecological education of elementary school students

Abstract

In contemporary educational institutions, ecological education has been gaining increased significance, but one can still not feel that the issue has been treated with the same relevance in institutions in the region of former Yugoslavia. The goals, tasks, and outcomes of ecological education are best reflected in the way each individual behaves and acts with regard to this matter. The process of acquiring knowledge in the field, of developing ecological principles and stances, and of showing ecological behaviour is conditioned by several factors. The research aims at identifyin elementary school students’ stances on factors of ecolofical education, with the SAEEF scaler applied (Scale for Assessing Ecological Education Factors) on a relevant sample of 129 students of fifth and nine grades elementary  students (ɑ꞊0.93). The aforementioned stances are arranged according to the examinees’ sex, grade, and performance respectively. The results show that the stances on the role of school, family, peers, media, and self-activity respectively are within the range of neutral to mildly positive, with no statistically significant difference between stances with regard to sex, while in terms of grade and performance there is, with levels of 0.01 and 0.05 respectively. Factors of ecological education determine the ecological awareness of students, which has a significant influence on their behaviour and acts with regard to the matter.