Analysis of Further Education Students’ Attitudes Regarding Environmental Pollution. A Case Study in Granada

Abstract

Pollution is shown as the environmental challenge, which has the greatest impact on global climate change. Faced with this situation, numerous environmental summits agree on the fact that Environmental Education needs to be implemented within the different disciplines and educational institutions. Therefore, Further Education must foster the research and management of environmental education with the aim of developing responsible citizens with sustainable attitudes. Based on this idea, this paper aimed to analyse the attitudes in Further Education students towards different situations and habits linked to pollution, as well as some of its varied typologies (chemical pollution, acoustic pollution and management of solid urban waste and rubbish). To achieve this, a sample of 307 students from different degrees of Preschool and Primary Education was included, using a questionnaire as a measuring instrument. The methodology of the study was both descriptive, through the analysis of its measures, and inferential, with the preparation of a confirmatory conceptual model through the structural equation model (SEM). Results revealed that students are highly concerned about the different situations proposed, and that the predictive model forges strong correlations between the four variables of the study. Hence, the study focused on the idea of trying to enhance environmental awareness in the groups of students from different educational phases, to subsequently foster the implementation of specific actions aimed at preserving and conserving natural resources, and to guide society towards sustainable development.