Abstract
Whether a favourable
disposition towards the environment travels with an informed understanding of
environmental education is an open question in the Indian context. The present
study examined the relationship between environmental attitude and environmental
education awareness among B.Ed. trainees and tested whether the two vary with
gender, locality, academic stream and year of study. A descriptive survey
design was used with 320 trainees drawn through stratified random sampling from
colleges of education affiliated to a state university in Madhya Pradesh, and
data were analysed through the t test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and
simple linear regression. Trainees recorded a moderately favourable attitude (M
= 110.65, SD = 13.99) and a moderate level of awareness (M = 148.45, SD =
19.25). Female trainees scored higher on attitude (t = 2.86, p = .004), while
awareness was higher among urban trainees (t = 3.13, p = .002), second year
trainees (t = 3.02, p = .003) and science stream trainees (F = 12.88, p <
.001). The two variables were positively related (r = .562, p < .001),
attitude accounting for 31.6 per cent of the variance in awareness. The weakest
dimension in both instruments concerned laws, policy and civic action.