A STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR GENDER AND INSTITUTION TYPE

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Education & Research
Volume 1, Issue 2, Mar 2017 Available at: www.dbpublications.org
International e-Journal For Education And Research-2017
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A STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ATTITUDE OF HIGHER SECONDARY
SCHOOL TEACHERS IN RELATION TO
THEIR GENDER AND INSTITUTION TYPE
Dr. Rajinder Singh
Asstt. Professor,
Department of Education
Tezpur University
ABSTRACT
This research is an examination of the
environmental attitude of higher secondary
school teachers in relation to their gender and
institution type. In the present investigation a
representative sample of 250 teachers in
government and private higher secondary
schools was drawn from Sonitpur district of
Assam. The research showed that there is no
significant difference in mean scores of health
and hygiene, wild life, forests, polluters and
population explosion areas of environmental
attitude of male and female senior secondary
school teachers. Female and male higher
secondary school teachers have almost same
overall environmental attitude. There is no
significant difference in overall environmental
attitude of private and government higher
secondary school teachers.
Key Words: environmental attitude, higher
secondary school teachers, gender and
institution type.
INTRODUCTION
A deep harmonious relationship exists between
man and environment. Human interaction with
the environment started from the moment when
he appeared on the earth. The
early man afraid of lightening, thunder, dense
forests and darkness. His activities and
interaction with the environment had very little
impact on it. Gradually, he started making
radical changes to suit his needs. The failures to
understand the place and the role of man in the
environment, the absence of elementary
knowledge of the biosphere among the people in
most countries of the world and the booming
scientific revolution created serious imbalances.
The modern development of science and
technology leads to a wasteful intensification of
the exploitation of natural resources. Human
being is in constant interaction with several
components of environment including the
biological, which is concerned with the
conditions exist within the body. The interplay
between man and his surroundings is a dynamic
process in which each is influencing, moulding
and interacting with each other. Man draws upon

the environmental resources for all his needs.
Thus it is imperative for him to realize that these
resources are the constituents of the system,
which support him and it is his prime duty to
keep the system in a healthy condition. If man‟s
intellect is responsible for the entire programme
for mankind, his arrogance and lack of wisdom
to live in harmony with nature are responsible
for all the harmful effects of nature on the
environment.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Environment has become a global issue.
There is a need to create public opinion
worldwide in order to save our environment.
The main objective of environmental education
is that individuals and social groups should
develop attitude, skill, ability and participation
in solving real life environmental threats. To
bring awareness about environment among
people from different walks of like, it is very
essential that this process is started from the
early years of life of an individual. In this
regards, teachers are the motivator in the school
regarding environment, different types of
environment problems and their solutions. The
teachers, if sufficiently aware of this importance,
can teach and train their students towards greater
respect for wild life, plant life and also the
productive use of natural resources like land and
water. The kind of pro-environmental behavior
of teachers certainly influences the attitude and
behavior of students, so that they can act as
true friends of nature and environment.
Environment has become the burning issue for
all the academicians, intellectuals, scientists,
policy makers and governmental of all over the
world.
In the present research work an attempt
has been made to study the attitude of higher
secondary school teachers regarding the
environment, its various factors and its various
aspects. The study will be helpful in making the
attitude of higher secondary school teachers
positive towards environment which will result
in an increased environmental attitude. It also
provides suggestions for framing the curriculum
with importance to inclusion of environmental
education so that environmental attitude level of
higher secondary school teachers should be
increased.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The statement of the problem is defined as
below.
“A STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ATTITUDE OF HIGHER SECONDARY
SCHOOL TEACHERS IN RELATION TO
THEIR GENDER AND INSTITUTION TYPE”
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study was conducted to achieve the
following objectives.
1. To study the nature of distribution of
environmental attitude scores of higher
2. To study gender-wise difference in
school teachers.
3. To study institution-wise difference in the
school teachers.
HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY
Following hypotheses were formulated in the
present study.

1. There will be no significant difference in
environmental attitude of male and female
higher secondary school teachers.
2. There will be no significant difference in
environment attitude of private and government
DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The present study was delimited in its scope
in the following manner.
1. The present study was delimited only to
government and private higher secondary
school teachers working in district Sonitpur
of Assam.
2. The study was delimited to a sample of 250
in-service teachers.
3. The study was delimited in terms of
independent and dependent variables.
Independent variables include gender and
type of institution. The dependent variable
only includes the environmental attitude of
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF KEY
TERMS USED
1. Environmental attitude: Environmental
attitude and awareness would be of no meaning
without cultivation of right attitude towards
environment, so, attitude is a prerequisite for
fostering valuing approach and responsible
action which is the ultimate goal of
environmental education. In the present study it
was measured by „Environmental Attitude
Scale‟ developed by the Dr. Hassen Taj.
2. Higher Secondary School Teachers : It refer
to the in-service teachers teaching in
government and private higher secondary school
in district Sonitpur of Assam.
3. Gender: It refers to male and female higher
4. Institution Type :Type of institution means
such schools which are run by government
called government schools and other schools run
by public bodies called public schools.
REVIEW OF RESEARCH STUDIES
RELATED TO ENVIRONMENT
ATTITUDE
Many researchers from different countries
have investigated the environmental awareness
of teachers, along with their environmental
attitudes. They include Stir (2006), Hsu and
Roth (1998), Esa (2010), Boubonari et al.
(2013), Goldman et al. (2006) and Pe'er et al.
(2007). The majority of these studies found a
moderate level of environmental awareness
along with positive attitudes among teachers.
Many researchers from India have investigated
the environmental awareness of teachers, along
with their environmental attitudes. They include
Dahyabhai and Patel (2011), Lahiri,(2011),
Mangala (2007), Nagra and Dhillon (2006),
Nima (2005), Sachin et al. (2011) Sudhir (2013).
The majority of these studies found there is no
significant difference between male and female
teachers in their attitude towards environmental
pollution and related issues.
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
Keeping into consideration the objectives of
present study, following methodology was
adopted.
METHOD
There are various methods which can be
used for the research purpose, but for
completing this study, only descriptive survey
method of research was used.
SAMPLING
In the present investigation a representative
sample of 250 teachers in government and

private higher secondary schools was drawn
from Sonitpur district of Assam. For this
purpose, the procedure of multistage sampling
was adopted. The selection of schools from the
above mentioned district was done on random
basis by the researcher. The distribution of
teachers is given in table.
Distribution of the Sample
School Male Female Total
Government 101 74 185
Private 20 55 65
Total 121 129 250
RESEARCH TOOL USED
For measuring the environmental attitude
among higher secondary school teachers, Taj
Environmental Attitude Scale (TEAS)
developed and standardized by Dr. Haseen Taj
was used. This scale contains 61 items with four
alternative responses out of which the
respondent has to select most suitable alternative
according to his/ her own characteristics. Taj
Environmental Attitude Scale has 31 favorable
and 30 unfavorable items. The total number of
favorable and unfavorable items with their serial
numbers in the final scale is presented in table
Total Number of Final Scale Items with their Serial Numbers Distributed Over Different Areas
DATA COLLECTION
The researcher collected the data
personally. The environmental attitude scale was
distributed to the teachers. The teachers were
imparted necessary instructions regarding filling
general information about them in the tool.
Teachers were also told that there answers will
be kept secret & will not be shown to anyone.
Teachers were asked to put a tick mark in the
category which they think to be most appropriate
Sr.
No.
Areas Serial No. of Items
in Final Scale
Total No. of
Items
1. Health and Hygiene 3, 46,52,59,61 5
2. Wild life 2,4,6,9,35 5
3. Forests 1,8,12,15,16,17,20,21,22,24,25,27,29,30,31,34,40,4
1,42,43,44,45,47,50, 57
26
4. Polluters 18,19,26,54,56,58 6
5. Population Explosion 5,33,48,53,55 5
6. Environment concerns 7,10,11,13,14,23,32,26,37,38,39,49,51,60 14
Total 61

for each item in the tool the teachers were given
enough time to complete the tool.
SCORING PROCEDURE
Each item alternative is assigned a
weightage ranging from 4 (Strongly Agree) to l
(Strongly disagree) for favorable items. In case
of unfavorable items the scoring is reversed i.e.
1 (Strongly Agree) to 4 (Strongly disagree). The
attitude score of an individual is the sum total of
item score on all the six areas. The range of
score is from 61 to 244 with thehigher score
indicating the more favorable attitude towards
environment and vice versa.
STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA
The data on environmental attitude of higher
secondary school teachers was verified for
normality by calculating certain statistics like
mean median, mode, standard deviation, quartile
deviation, skewness and kurtosis. For testing the
significance of difference in the environmental
attitude of higher secondary school teachers in
relation to their gender and type of institution
the statistical technique of „t‟-test was applied.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF DATA
Analysis and interpretation of data means
studying the tabulated material in order to
determine inherent facts. The data is studied
from as many angles as possible to explore the
new facts. Analysis and interpretation of the
obtained data were made by keeping in mind the
objectives of the study. The descriptions of
calculation and results obtained have been
systematically presented.
NATURE OF DISTRIBUTION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE SCORES
OF HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
TEACHERS
The distribution of environmental attitude
scores of higher secondary school teachers along
with mean, median mode, standard deviation,
quartile deviation, skewness and kurtosis is
given in table
Frequency Distribution of Environmental Attitude Scores of Higher Secondary School Teachers
(N=250)
Class interval Frequency Cumulative frequency Commutative frequency (%)
215-219 1 250 100
210-214 2 249 99.6
205-209 5 247 98.8
200-204 7 242 96.8
195-199 16 235 94
190-194 33 219 87.6
185-189 53 186 74.4
180-184 54 133 53.2
175-179 24 79 31.6
170-174 23 55 22
165-169 9 32 12.8
160-164 9 23 9.2

155-159 7 14 5.6
150-154 7 7 2.8
Total 250
Mean Median Mode S.D. Q.D. Skewness Kurtosis
182.46 183.75 184.33 12.00 6.742 -0.32 0.219
Table shows that the value of mean, median and
mode of environmental attitude scores of senior
secondary school teachers as 182.46, 183.75 and
184.33 respectively, which are quite proximate
to each other. The value of standard deviation
and quartile deviation is 12.00 and 6.742
respectively. Further, the value of skewness is -
0.32 which shows that the curve is negatively
skewed. In addition to this the value of kurtosis
was calculated to be 0.219 which is indicating
that the curve is leptokurtic in nature. The
skewness and kurtosis in respect of distribution
of environmental attitude scores is
diagrammatically presented in figure
Frequency Distribution Curve of Environmental Attitude Scores of Senior Secondary School
Teachers
Hence, it may be inferred that the distribution of
environmental attitude scores of higher
secondary school teachers is nearly normal and
thus, parametric tests can be applied on the
same.
AREA-WISE ANALYSIS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF
HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR
GENDER
The summary of statistical calculations for
finding significance of difference in the mean
scores of environmental attitude of higher
secondary school teachers is given in table.
0
20
40
60
7 7 9 9
23 24
54 53
33
16
7 5
2 1
Frequency
Class Interval

Summary of Statistical Calculations for Finding Gender-wise Significance of Difference in the
Mean Scores of Environmental Attitude of Higher Secondary School Teachers
Sr. No. Dimension Male Group Female Group ‘t’- value
1. Health and Hygiene N =121 N = 129
1.12NS
M = 15.5 M = 15.78
SD=2.29 SD=1.86
2. Wildlife N =121 N = 129
1.14NS
M = 17.78 M = 17.46
SD=2.22 SD=2.34
3. Forests N =121 N = 129
0.35 NS
M = 15.53 M = 15.43
SD=1.96 SD=2.64
4. Polluters N =121 N = 129
0.25NS
M = 76.64 M = 76.845
SD=6.3 SD=6.316
5. Population Explosion N =121 N = 129
1.90NS
M = 16.74 M = 16.48
SD=1.74 SD= 2.09
6. Environmental
Concerns
N =121 N = 129
2.73**M = 42.94 M = 44.06
SD=3.36 SD= 3.3
7. Overall N =121 N = 129
0.13NS
M = 183.3 M = 183.5
SD=11.6 SD= 12.5
** Significant at 0.01 level of significance
NS
Not Significant at 0.05 level of significance
Table (Sr.No.7) depicts that the calculated value
of „t‟ for comparing the significance of
difference between mean scores of overall
environmental attitude of male and female
higher secondary school teachers came out to be
0.13, which is not significant at 0.05 level of
significance for two tailed test for degree of
freedom, df = 248, because, the calculated „t‟-
value (0.13) is less than the table „t‟ – value
(1.97) at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, the
Hypothesis No. 2 that, “There will be no
significant difference in overall environmental
attitude of male and female higher secondary
school teachers” was accepted.
Therefore, it may be interpreted that there is
no significant difference in mean scores of
overall environmental attitude of male and
female higher secondary school teachers.
Female and male senior secondary school
teachers have almost same overall
environmental attitude.
ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF
HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR
INSTITUTION TYPE

The summary of statistical calculations for
finding out the significance of difference in the
mean scores of environmental attitude of higher
secondary school teachers in relation to their
institution type is given in table
Summary of Statistical Calculations for finding Institution-wise Significance of Difference in the
Mean Scores of Environmental Attitude of Higher Secondary School Teachers
Sr. No. Dimension Private Group Govt. Group ‘t’- value
1. Health and Hygiene N= 63 N= 187
2.54*M= 16.22 M =15.66
SD=1.5 SD = 1.86
2. Wildlife N= 63 N= 187
1.57NS
M= 17.44 M =17.88
SD=1.86 SD = 2.58
3. Forests N= 63 N= 187
0.78NS
M= 15.92 M = 15.20
SD= 2.32 SD = 2.28
4. Polluters N= 63 N= 187
0.38NS
M= 76.95 M = 76.72
SD= 5.92 SD = 6.17
5. Population Explosion N= 63 N= 187
1.86NS
M= 16.09 M = 16.65
SD= 2.16 SD = 1.94
6. Environmental
Concerns
N= 63 N= 187
0.09NS
M= 43.60 M = 43.56
SD= 3.01 SD = 3.36
7. Overall N= 63 N= 187
0.77NS
M= 184.5 M = 183.2
SD= 11.4 SD = 11.9
*Significant at 0.05 level of significance
NS
Not Significant at 0.05 level of significance
Table (Sr. No.7) depicts that the calculated value
of „t‟ for comparing the difference between the
mean scores of overall environmental attitude of
private and government higher secondary
school teachers came out to be 0.77 which is not
significant at 0.05 level of significance for two
tailed test for degree of freedom df = 248,
because the calculated „t‟- value (0.77) is less
than the table „t‟-value (1.97) at 0.05 level of
significance. Hence, the Hypothesis No. 3 that,
“There will be no significant difference in
overall environment attitude of private and
government higher secondary school teachers”
was accepted.
Therefore, it may be interpreted that
there is no significant difference in the mean
scores of overall environmental attitude of
private and government higher secondary school
teachers. Private and government higher
secondary school teachers possess almost same
overall environmental attitude.
CONCLUSIONS

From the analysis and interpretation of the data,
following conclusions may be drawn.
 There is no significant difference in mean
scores of health and hygiene, wild life,
forests, polluters and population explosion
areas of environmental attitude of male and
female higher secondary school teachers.
 Female higher secondary school teachers
possess significantly higher environmental
attitude in environmental concerns area than
male higher secondary school teachers.
 Female and male senior secondary school
teachers have almost same overall
 There is significant difference in mean
scores of health and hygiene area of
environmental attitude of private and
government higher secondary school
teachers. Private senior secondary school
teachers have significantly high
environmental attitude in health and hygiene
area than government senior secondary
school teachers.
 There is no significant difference in the
mean scores of wild life, forests, polluters,
population explosion and environmental
concerns areas of environmental attitude of
private and government higher secondary
school teachers.
 There is no significant difference in overall
environmental attitude of private and
government higher secondary school
teachers.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
On the basis of the results of the present
study following educational implications may be
laid down.
 Teachers can play an important role in
educating their students about environment
which is possible only when the teachers
themselves have the necessary level of
environmental awareness and environmental
attitude, for this purpose, the Government
should introduce and enrich environmental
education programmes in both inservice and
pre-service teacher education programmes.
 The teacher education & training centers and
in-service education programmes should
device new methods and techniques of
teaching for increasing the level of teachers‟
environmental awareness and environmental
attitude.
 Various co-curricular activities in schools
may be encouraged to help in developing
students‟ environmental awareness and
 Environmental education should be
introduced in primary and secondary school
curricula, in a maximum number of subjects.
 Environmental training should be
multidisciplinary focusing on interaction
between environmental phenomenon and
human activity.
 The young children have great curiosity
about their surroundings. They possess great
love for nature and want to understand
myths and mysteries of nature. Therefore, at
this stage stress should laid on developing
an emotional tie with nature. Method of
teaching should be used as to cultivate love
for nature.
 The teacher plays an important role in
shaping and moulding the habits, tastes,
manners and good character of the children.
Therefore, to gear up environmental
awareness and environmental attitude
programme, it is essential that teachers
should have sufficient knowledge of
environmental education.
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Kevrekidis, T. (2013). Greek pre-service
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10.1080/00958964.2013.785381
 Dahyabhai and Patel (2011). The
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Students Teachers. The CTE National
Journal IX (1).
 Goldman, D., Yavetz, B., & Pe'er, S.
(2006). Environmental literacy in
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EDUTRACKS, 6 (8), 41-45.
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Reflection on Education, April-June, 3
(2), 3-8.
 Pe'er, S., Goldman, D., & Yavetz, B.
(2007). Environmental literacy in
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 Sachin, krishan kumar, Manjeet kumar
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students : A comparative study. Indian
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 Stir, J. (2006). Restructuring teacher
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 Sudhir, M.A. (2013). Participatory
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A STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR GENDER AND INSTITUTION TYPE

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