Assessment of environmental awareness of students of secondary vocational education

• Ярусова Софья Борисовна

  Sofya B. Yarusova. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

• Ivanenko N.V.

  Natalya V. Ivanenko. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

• Штабной Игорь Петрович

  Igor P. Shtabnoy. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

• Igor Yu. Buravlev

  Igor Yu. Buravlev. Far Eastern Federal University. Vladivostok. Russia

Abstract. The article highlights the formation of environmental culture as a section of environmental sciences (the area of interaction between nature and society) and interest in environmental problems among college students on the example of Vladivostok State University (VVSU). A preliminary analysis of environmental awareness among students of secondary vocational education (SVE) on the example of College
of Service and Design (CSD) and IT-college (IThub Vladivostok) of Vladivostok State University was conducted. A survey of 333 first to third year students from various specialties in these colleges was carried out. The survey assessed students' knowledge of contemporary environmental issues, sources of environmental information, self-evaluation of environmental interest and self-education. The research results
showed a number of general trends: among the respondents of the two colleges there is a high percentage of students who rarely think about environmental problems; in these educational institutions the majority of students assess their level of environmental competence as average and engage in self-education in the field of ecology sporadically or rarely. A significant number of students at the two colleges (approximately
15–20 %) could not unambiguously assess their level of environmental competence. Scientific novelty: using VVSU as a case study new data on the attitude of SVE students to environmental issues have been obtained. It was established that students' attitude to the environment does not meet social requirements; their own environmental competence is not perceived by students as significant in their self-education. Practical
significance: the obtained results indicate the need to pay more attention to the development of environmental culture and environmental education of SVE students, to activate various forms of their research and project activities and a number of other tools. Assessment of the degree of awareness and interest of college students in solving environmental problems will be used to adjust the programs on environmental
education and upbringing of student youth.
Keywords: ecology, environmental awareness, environmental culture, environmental education, Vladivostok State University.