Australia

Conclusion

Many students in Australia have made a very large shift towards the adoption of an environmental paradigm as seen in their answers to the scales related to environmental and technological beliefs. This conclusion is further supported by the ranking of the environment as one of the most important issues for Australia and their views about its importance vis-a-vis the economy. These strong beliefs have not, however, translated into similar levels of knowledge about the environment, nor automatically translated intopersonal behaviour. Students possess a somewhat shallow understanding of key environmental problems and their causes. Environmental actions are mostly limited to household behaviours, with most students indicating that they were unwilling to perform such civic actions as writing a letter or signing a petition.

The findings also indicate that the environmental education Australian young people are gaining is inadequate in both quantity and quality. This suggests that the end purposes and full educational potential of environmental education are being lost — and that environmental education is not being implemented according to international or state guidelines in many Australian schools. Many challenges thus lie ahead for environmental education in Australian schools and the community.