Environmental education policy of schools and socioeconomic background affect environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior of secondary school students

Measuring environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors in schools is crucial in order to assess how pedagogical work in the schools cope with the expectations to move sustainability related attitudes and behaviors of students toward more pro-environmental ones. These changes in students’ attitudes and behaviors are among the main possibilities that may lead societies toward sustainability transition. In this study we surveyed sustainability related attitudes and behaviors of students in 14 Hungarian secondary schools, as well as the efforts of their schools and teachers related to environmental and sustainability education. Factors affecting students’ attitudes and behaviors with the greater effect sizes were related to the socioeconomic background of students, i.e. socio-economical status of their schools, residency (settlement type and country region), and education of parents. Class grade and gender had only a smaller effect. Some measures of schools’ sustainability efforts also affected students’ measures of environmentalism indicating the effectiveness of focused educational policies. Final grade students became more pro-environmental consumers as compared to first grade students in schools with higher level of EE/ESD related infrastructure and facilities, while attitudes were quasi-significantly affected by the level of integration of diverse EE/ESD programs in their schools.