Valuing the Invaluable. Effects of individual, school and cultural factors on the environmental values of children

The overall aim of the research presented in this dissertation is to gain more
insight in the environmental values (EV) of children. EV are, across disciplines,
regarded as an essential precondition of environmental behavior. A better
understanding of what explains variation in EV and what they can tell us
about the environmental behavior of children – the future’s decision-makers –
makes an important contribution to the evaluation and design of
environmental education initiatives.

Essential to the overall design of the research in this dissertation is that is
doesn’t consider EV as just individual traits (as is often done in environmental
education research); the social and natural context in which children live are
also incorporated. By doing so, the dissertation borrows from an approach of
environmental sociology; trough also including methodologies from
environmental psychology when it comes to measuring EV, the dissertation
spans three disciplines and in that aims to achieve a more holistic
perspective on the subject. The six studies that are presented in the
dissertation each have their own specific focus:

• (1) EV and personality
• (2) gender differences in EV
• (3) do schools matter for EV?
• (4) do eco-schools matter for EV?
• (5) a cross-national perspective on EV
• (6) cross-cultural differences in EV.

Jelle Boeve-de Pauw is a reseacher at the University
of Antwerp’s Institute for Education and Information
Sciences (research unit EduBROn). He has a master’s
degree in biology, is trained as a nature and wildlife
guide, and worked as science exhibition developer,
educator and communicator before joining the
EduBROn research unit. He promoted to Doctor in
Educational Sciences with the research published in
this book.