Reliability of the new environmental paradigm for analysing the environmental attitudes of Senegalese pupils in the context of conservation education projects

Abstract

The New Environmental Paradigm scale for children was developed and validated in Western nations but has seldom been applied in non-western countries. The aim of the current study is to examine the scale’s validity for schoolchildren in Senegal. The study was conducted in three regions of Senegal in November and December 2015, and a total 782 schoolchildren with an average age of 13 years participated. We used Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis to assess the consistency of the scale. The principal component analysis was used to reveal the different potential dimensions of our data-set. Given the low internal consistency of the scale and the unexpected responses to certain items, the scale seems to be rather unreliable for the investigated population. This difference could be caused by specific cultural features encompassing strong religious beliefs, different understandings of the place of humankind in nature, and weak awareness of humans’ impact on the natural world.

Keywords:

• Environmental education programme evaluation
• endangered species
• nature conservation
• Senegal
• Western Derby eland

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Senegalese Directorate of National Parks and the Society for the Protection of the Environment and Fauna in Senegal (SPEFS) for their firm partnership in the conservation of the Western Derby eland. We were particularly helped by the managers of Bandia Reserve, who provided open buses for the children during the excursion, and for their staff, who were always patient and keen to learn how to work with new educational tools during the guided tours.