Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Secondary and High School Teachers in Swaziland

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating environmental knowledge, attitudes and practices of teachers in secondary and high schools in Swaziland. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect the necessary data. The findings revealed that the teachers exhibited a high level of environmental knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment. The teachers were also found to be assisting their schools to mount basic environmentally related activities such as clean-up campaigns and tree planting. This was noted as a benefit to environmental education in the country. There were, however, noted differences in the levels of knowledge and attitudes according to the teachers’ gender, subject specialisation as well as level of academic achievements. The study concluded by raising a number of emerging issues from the results which include the mounting of initiatives aimed at enhancing the level of environmental awareness, knowledge and attitudes among all teachers. This was noted as a fundamental step towards facilitating environmental education in local schools.