Abstract
Abstract
The present study examined
whether male and female B.Ed. trainees differ in their attitude towards the
environment, and whether any such difference is uniform across the facets of
that attitude. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Data were collected from
300 second-semester B.Ed. trainees (150 male, 150 female) drawn through
stratified random sampling from six colleges of education affiliated to Jiwaji
University, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), during the session 2024-25. The
Environmental Attitude Scale (EAS) constructed by the investigator was used; it
carries 40 statements over five dimensions on a five-point Likert format, and
returned a Cronbach's alpha of .93. Data were analysed through mean, standard
deviation, skewness, kurtosis, the t-test for independent samples, two-way
analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation. Female trainees obtained a
significantly higher mean environmental attitude score than male trainees,
t(298) = 2.98, p = .003, d = 0.34, but the difference was confined to three of
the five dimensions. A significant gender by academic stream interaction, F(1,
296) = 5.60, p = .019, showed that the gap was restricted to arts-stream
trainees. Implications for the environmental component of teacher education are
discussed.