Investigating primary children’s knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards sustainable development

Abstract

In the last few years, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has gained more popularity in Malta. For instance, ESD has been acknowledged as a cross-curricular theme in formal education in 2012. Nonetheless, the actual implementation of ESD in formal education has been very limited as educators tend to focus more on Environmental Education (EE) rather than ESD, which may influence the students’ perception of SD. The main aim of this study focuses on assessing year 6 Maltese students’ knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards the three dimensions of SD (environment, social and economic dimensions). Linking the study’s aim to the research questions, this study focused on evaluating year 6 students’ knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards SD. Moreover, it demonstrates who or what may influence the students’ knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards SD. Lastly, it also illustrates how ESD is implemented in formal education. A mixed method approach was used to answer all the research questions. A questionnaire containing open-ended questions and closed-ended statements was given to year 6 Maltese student. Whilst interviews were conducted with teachers, heads of schools and a policymaker. The results indicate that students showed good knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards all dimensions of SD. Although not statistically significant, the students scored better in the knowledge and attitude sections when compared to the behaviour section. Quantitative results also demonstrate that a good number of students heard about SD prior to participating in this study. Moreover, qualitative data, whilst also added new insights, further solidified the results retrieved from the quantitative data. Qualitative data from the interviews showed how ESD is being implemented in locally in schools and classes. The data was then triangulated, and results were illustrated comprehensively. Following the results of this study, several recommendations are proposed to all stakeholders who implement ESD and who may affect the student’s knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards SD.