STUDYING INTO ENVIRONMENTAL WORLD VIEW OF PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UKRAINE: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

The study focuses on the phenomenon of environmental world view. In Ukrainian sociological literature, this phenomenon is mostly known as “environmental consciousness” (EC) and considered to be one of the basic concepts in environmental sociology and psychology. Structurally, environmental consciousness consists of three components: cognitive (which corresponds to environmental awareness), emotive (which is connected with environmental responsiveness) and conative (which determines the type of environmental behaviour). As far as the “human–nature” relationship is concerned, there are three main types of EC such as anthropocentric (human-centred, which views a human being as dominating all other living creatures, so the natural world is supposed to serve various human needs), biocentric (nature-centred, which regards nature as of the greatest value and calls on humans to subordinate themselves to the natural world) and ecocentric (which brings to the fore humans’ living in harmony with nature). Taking account of this classification, the author has decided to conduct a pilot survey among students from several Ukrainian schools. The survey was aimed at determining the prevailing type of EC among these students. For this purpose, the following research tools were used: two questionnaires (“How important is nature to you?” and “What are you ready to do for the sake of nature?”), short stories about nature, pictures of beautiful landscapes and those of environmental pollution, a quiz titled “A quick look at the natural world”, etc. The survey lasted from March till November 2021 and covered 48 students from different age groups. The preliminary results indicate a slight prevalence of an ecocentric world view, especially among the students involved in extracurricular environmental activities or attending classes in environmental science. The author also proposes a more detailed classification of environmental consciousness, which includes ten subtypes such as anthropocentric-contemplative, anthropocentric-pragmatic, anthropocentricdestructive, anthropocentric-preserving, biocentric-altruistic, biocentric-syncretic, biocentricaggressive, ecocentric-rational, ecocentric-constructive and ecocentric-oppositional. This classification is based on a person’s attitude towards nature and his/her activity in the natural environment.