The influence of environmental education on Omani students self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours

Abstract The objective of this research is to consider the self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours of Omani students and identify the factors that determine them. This research aims to explore the current environmental education curriculum in Oman. Specifically, this research is designed to identify school-related factors that might influence Omani students’ self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours. An explanatory sequential mixed method research design is adopted to gather information from primary and secondary sources. A questionnaire of 53 items was designed and tested on 212 students from four secondary schools in Oman, and then 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted with students, teachers and heads from the same four secondary schools. The data generated from the questionnaires were analysed using two methods: descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. The data generated from the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The major findings of this research indicate that the environmental curriculum appears to be a moderate contributor to environmental attitudes and behaviours, whereas environmental knowledge appears to be a positive contributor to environmental attitudes and behaviours. Overall, this study suggests that including environmental education in schools improves students’ environmental attitudes and behaviours.


Introduction
There is a strong scientific consensus that current environmental issues, such as global warming, natural resource depletion and climate change, impose extreme threats on this planet (Abdul-Wahab et al., 2015). Some possible effects of global warming on Arab nations in general and Oman in particular have been reported in previous studies (Ahmed & Choudri, 2012).
Several strategies have been employed to increase public awareness of environmental issues, such as pollution (Zafar, 2016(Zafar, , 2019. One of these strategies is harnessing the power of environmental education in schools (Mulà & Tilbury, 2011;Bokova, 2011). This strategy has been adopted with the view that schools can help nurture positive attitudes among students towards the conservation of the environment. Education instils knowledge about the importance of the environment, thus encouraging people to come up with policies and strategies to solve environmental issues.
The United Nations designed the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework (UN, 2015). The indicators provided in the SDG framework aim for continuous development while maintaining the welfare of people. Education is included as an indicator within this framework, and is believed to be one of a few important drivers for addressing environmental problems, as it is a source of influence and a gateway to knowledge, and so enables students to perceive the importance and urgency of environmental conservation (Hedefalk, Almqvist, & Östman, 2015;Kopnina, 2012). There are many potential influences on the attitudes of individuals, so it is important that the curriculum taught to students induce awareness and encourage attitudes and behaviours. This highlights the overall importance of education in producing future citizens of Oman who will have an understanding of the environment. Behaviour is motivated by intentions that are influenced by attitudes, which can be transformed into positive actions towards the conservation of the environment. Therefore, the research reported in this paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of the self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours of students. Responsible environmental practices are shaped by the extent to which the individual believes that their behaviour impacts positively on society, thus gaining inner satisfaction for their actions (Leal Filho, 2015). In the current study, an evaluation of attitudes and practices of secondary school students with regard to the environment helps to paint a picture of how some pro-environmental attitudes can be developed. It is the fundamental rationale as to why the current study is to be conducted. The findings of this study will help inform policymakers to develop better curricula within schools, which will consider environmental issues. The findings will also explain the attitudes and behaviours of students within and outside Omani secondary schools.
The Responsible Environmental Behaviour (REB) model of Hines, Harold, and Tomera (1987) describes the journey from knowledge to behaviour. It evaluates whether awareness, education, intention, and attitude transform into action or not. For this purpose, the REB theory is used as an epistemological research position (Hines et al., 1987). REB explains that knowledge, intentions, and attitudes are behavioural dispositions, and these behavioural dispositions are irrelevant to the real world unless they translate into action (reality). Moreover, the model considers that intentions play a central role in motivating and impacting behaviour.
Consequently, they remain as behavioural dispositions until the opportunity arises when the intention can be translated into action. The truth about an individual's environmental position can only be determined based on real actions and not intentions. Thus, REB implements the general philosophical framework of pragmatism, since pragmatism focuses on acts as a means to understand the world. Pragmatism is about practicality; the outcome is what matters, and truth can be distinguished based on actual results and outcomes (De Leeuw, Valois, Ajzen, & Schmidt, 2015;Blok et al., 2015;Clayton and Myers, 2015;Hines et al., 1987;Munang et al., 2013). Since the researcher is trying to investigate the actual consequences of environmental education in schools in Oman, pragmatism is the most suitable methodology.

School factors influencing self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours
Over the years, the significant increase in environmental topics included in the Omani school curriculum has provided positive student outcomes in diverse subject areas, including mathematics, reading and science (Bokova, 2011). Well-organised environmental education programmes do much to influence attitudes and improve knowledge, as well as enhance the performance of students. Environmental education improves critical thinking, life skills and performance, according to standardised measures (Stanišić & Maksić, 2014).
The important element in any environmental education syllabus is to provide students with a basic understanding of the environment and its associated problems, which will help them to successfully deal with environmental issues (Volk & Cheak, 2003;Zsóka, Szerényi, Széchy, & Kocsis, 2013;Kusturica, Tomas, & Sabo, 2016;Wiseman, Alromi, & Alshumrani, 2014). Moreover, this awareness leads students to explore the community around them, especially about environmental issues. O'Donoghue et al. (2016) stated that environmental education encourages students to link their personal lives and actions with problems in the environment. Thus, students acquire some social values regarding the importance of a clean environment and this drives them to participate in activities that protect and improve the environment. In addition, environmental education helps young people develop a coherent insight into human behaviour and its effects on other people and the environment (Stanišić & Maksić, 2014). As Folaranmi, Asukwo, and Eyiwumi (2018) pointed out, this cognitive domain prepares students for contemporary reality, which is one of the essential objectives of environmental education. Hermans and Korhonen (2017) indicated that involving students in real-world problems would encourage them to attempt to solve the issues. For instance, they could choose commodities that would ultimately have less impact on the environment. In addition, environmental education is vital to prevent harmful effects on human health and severe damage to the environment caused by pollution associated with economic development. Reducing environmental damage would enable communities to enjoy a prosperous and healthy life. Thus, environmental education aims to make sure that students are well equipped with environmental knowledge.
The environmental education curriculum includes topics integrated with school subjects in Oman. The environmental topics vary in depth from grade 4 to grade 12, as illustrated in the Omani school environmental education curriculum framework (see Figure 1). This variation mainly depends on the age group, which impacts the level of understanding of the concepts and topics discussed in each educational stage. Science and Environment subject was introduced as a subject by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2011. It was the first separate school subject that discussed topics of environmental issues. The subject was developed for students in grade 12, and focused on the literature covering the environment, human health preservation, sustainable road use and renewable power. The syllabus is covered in the book, Sciences and the environment, which addresses about two broad concepts: science and the environment (Ict.moe.gov.om). The syllabus addresses human beings and the interaction of their activities with the environment, highlighting the responsibility of people towards the environment as well as the impact of lifestyle on human health. It also presents different kinds of renewable power, such as solar, wind and water power. In addition, different topics addressing environmental issues and preservation are covered through school subjects in grades 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 (see Figure 1).
Based on the aims of this investigation, the current research answers the following question: What are the school factors that influence students' self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours?

The aims of this study
The aims of this study are: • to highlight the school factors that contribute to impacting the self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours of students • to inform curriculum developers within Oman about education regarding sustainable development and its influence on self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours.

Contribution to the field
This study is conducted to examine the school factors determining students' self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours. In addition, the study will emphasise the role of environmental education and environmental knowledge on the development of students' environmental attitudes and behaviours.

Participants
For this study, the targeted sample included students from grades 10, 11 and 12, eight teachers, and four heads of schools from four public (government-run) secondary schools. These schools are located in various areas of Muscat, the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman.
The quantitative phase of the study administered the survey to 212 students, who were 66 male and 146 female students aged between 15 and 18.
For the qualitative phase of the study, 8 teachers, 4 heads of schools, and 13 students were selected to participate in the semi-structured interviews. Of the students, 7 were female and 6 were male. The research targeted students in grades 10 to 12 in science, geography and social studies classes, and the teachers of these subjects, to collect rich data related to the different dimensions of environmental education. This group was chosen because environmental topics are mainly introduced through these three school subjects.

Data sources
The first research instrument utilized in the study was a questionnaire, which was distributed among 212 students to collect their views regarding attitudes and behaviours towards environmental issues. The first section of the questionnaire concerned the demographic information of the samples regarding characteristics such as age, gender, educational level, school name, and household location. Owing to the sampling method that was used for this study, most (68.9%) of the participants were female, see Figure 2. Although two schools for each gender were targeted, the number of female students who were willing to participate was higher. The first researcher had good access to girls' schools, since her teaching background allowed her to easily approach her former colleagues and fellow teachers in girls' schools to distribute the questionnaire to students based on their match with the sampling criteria. The easy access to the girls' schools contrasted with that to the boys' schools due to the different cultural norms between the genders that the first researcher of this study faced.
The second part of the survey employed a 13-point frequency scale in which they had to decide on six individual points, ranging from "every day" to "never," in an attempt to examine the frequency of their pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours in their day-to-day lives. The third part assessed their environmental knowledge through a self-reported questionnaire that included four items with answers 5-scale ranging from "very poor" to "very good" that investigated their view of the level of their environmental knowledge.
Semi-structured interviews comprised the second research method used in this study. An interview schedule was developed and used to collect qualitative data. The semi-structured interviews included both open-ended and closed-ended questions based on the survey questions. There were three different forms of questions for each of the different groups of participants, namely, heads of schools, teachers and students. These qualitative interviews explored the participants' perceptions and awareness of environmental education, their environmental attitudes and behaviours, and the factors that affected their environmental attitudes and behaviours.

Data analysis
The process of data analysis included statistical analyses for the quantitative, survey data and qualitative analysis for the interviews. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) program version 24 was used to analyse the quantitative data. This included coding the answers' choices offered in the surveys and entering them into the software to generate tables, graphs, charts and descriptive analysis, among other statistical information. The reliability of the instrument is statistically significant, as shown by Cronbach's alpha score of 0.759. The response rate for the study was 100%; hence, 212 responses were received from the administered questionnaire.
The data analysis of the interviews started by transcribing the recorded interviews into an MS Word document. The second procedure was to translate the transcripts from Arabic into the English language, which was done by the researchers of this study. The translation was also double-checked by another author who is fluent in Arabic and English. Following the translation of the transcription, data was stored and managed using a Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) program (NVivo-version 12). Furthermore, when the researcher of this study came across such transcriptions, they were highlighted by using Nvivo Program. Labelling these highlighted extracts meant they could be easily identified, and subsequently summarised looking out for the answers to the research questions. This led the researchers to themes and highlighting any new texts that were not linked to the focus area emphasised new results. To analyse this data, thematic analysis has been used to identify the emerging themes in the responses logically. Thematic analysis lends itself to providing a rich thematic description of the whole data set, and it is, for this reason, a useful approach when exploring new or under-researched areas and is particularly relevant to social studies. Thematic analysis is used here as it provides clear links between themes and the aims of the study to guide the development of analytical claims

Main sources of environmental knowledge
The findings of an analysis of the survey revealed that the main sources of knowledge about environmental issues were social media, books, family and school. The students have good opportunities to access internet services (65.6% have access to social media) and socialise through interpersonal interactions within schools ( Figure  3). However, environmental groups, journals, workshops and newspapers were observed to contribute significantly to disseminating the information. Figure 3 shows that 65.6% of students rely on social media as one of the sources of knowledge about the environment, indicating the influence of social media platforms on the recent generation. Thus, schools can exploit this by utilising different social media platforms to promote pro-environmental attitudes among the students (Di Minin, Tenkanen, & Toivonen, 2015). The next most significant sources of environmental knowledge are books and family. Family is a key source of children's environmental knowledge as family members are looked to as role models. Grønhøj and Thøgersen (2017) stated that adolescents' pro-environmental behaviour is heavily influenced by the dominating norms within the family and in particular by how strongly they are manifested in their parents' behaviour. Thus, the family needs to encourage their children in pro-environmental behaviours in their daily activities.

Descriptive statistics
With regard to prioritising the environmental curriculum in schools, the analysis of the question illustrated a mean = 4.7 on a scale of 6. A high number of students agreed that it is important to have an environmental curriculum in their schools. It was observed that most of the students relied heavily on knowledge from social media, books and school (see Figure 3).
Moreover, it is essential to examine how aware sample participants are of the environmental problems and their underlying causes. Therefore, this research asked questions to assess the participants' self-reported knowledge of environmental problems. Most of the participants had a sound knowledge of environmental issues. On a scale of 0-5, students' self-reported knowledge about environmental problems, such as those associated with energy, and water and air pollution, had a mean value of 3.5.
It was observed that the majority of the individuals (176) exhibited a positive attitude towards pro-environmental behaviours, such as championing recycling and reuse of waste. This pro-environmental behaviour was observed to represent a significant level of commitment towards positively changing behavioural intentions. Similarly, they were willing to make personal sacrifices to stop environmental pollution and degradation. Most of the respondents indicated a positive outlook towards engaging in activities that can be defined as environmentally friendly. This was shown in the students' self-reported willingness to adopt pro-environmental initiatives, such as conservation, planting, recycling and reuse of products or waste. Table  1 shows a mean value of 3.4 for general self-reported attitudes and behaviours, suggesting that students behave positively towards the environment. However, students need to increase the frequency of behaving pro-environmentally from once a month to weekly. This may be influenced by policies related to controlling behaviours that have a negative impact on the environment, such as paying for plastic bags. Furthermore, the lack of availability of recycling bins at most schools and areas where the participants live does not encourage pro-environmental behaviours.

Environmental curriculum
The prioritisation of the environmental curriculum in schools by students themselves is projected to have a very major impact on the behaviours and attitudes of the Table 1. the mean and standard deviation of students' answers to questions related to the importance and prioritising environmental curriculum in schools, students' self-reported environmental knowledge and students' self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours. students on issues related to the environment. Most students thought that an environmental curriculum is important to be taught in schools.
To determine whether there is a statistically significant relationship between variables a chi-square analysis was used. Table 2 shows a significant relationship (Pearson chi-square is 0.017) between the two variables of (1) how important environmental curriculum (self-reported) and (2) attitudes and behaviours (self-reported).

Self-reported knowledge
The relationship between self-reported knowledge and self-reported attitudes and behaviours was tested also using a chi-square analysis. Table 3 shows a significant relationship (0.001) between students' self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours and their self-reported environmental knowledge.   Table 4 reports the self-reported knowledge according to gender. It can be seen from Table 4 that male students reported themselves to be more aware of environmental problems than female students. The disparity in environmental awareness between the two genders is largely linked to the level of access to social engagement. Women have fewer opportunities to access social initiatives compared with men due to the culture and women's social status. Moreover, the results show that male students reported themselves to be more aware of environmental issues associated with water, air pollution and energy than female students.

Awareness of environmental education
In order to be able to grasp the concepts of environmental education fully, an understanding of participants' perceptions of environmental education was needed. The analysis of students and heads of schools' awareness of environmental education led to several subcategories: (1) curriculum about the environment; (2) awareness about the environment; (3) natural environment; and (4) environmental problems.

Curriculum about the environment
For the most part, students and heads of schools had similar awareness about environmental education. Both groups perceived environmental education as a school curriculum about the environment. For instance, to the question "what is environmental education?", head of school A replied:

It is the education that is taken from the environment itself and uses the environmental factors in learning and teaching. Yes, the environment is a part of school curricula as seen in some examples in the school, such as life skills, geography, Arabic texts, Islamic education, and even English language texts. It also tackles the matter of spreading awareness amongst the Omani people and how to preserve and develop the environment and their country's achievements. This also has something to do with sustainable development.
Head of school C offered a broader awareness, noting: It is the curriculum that is concerned about the issues of the environment. Here in Oman, in the past, there was a curriculum concerned with this matter. There was a subject Three students from school B had similar views on environmental education, stating that it is "the science which tackles the issues and the protection of the environment."

Awareness about the environment
Some of the students and heads of schools viewed environmental education as raising awareness about the environment. Head of school D stated that environmental education means "the spread of environmental awareness and educative brochures in the school." The views of a student from the same school were aligned with the head of the school. She stated that "environmental education is the science that gives us awareness and keeps the cleanness of the environment. This will help us be safe from diseases and pollution. It also deals with the environment and its problems. "

Natural environment
Some students showed very superficial awareness about environmental education. A student from school D said, "In general, it is related to natural landscapes. I think it is related to the definition of the environment and the factors that affect it. " Another student from the same school replied, "It is related to the natural phenomena, nature in general, such as the sun and trees. For example, it has things to do with the planets and the sun. " This group of respondents seems to have a very shallow understanding of environmental education. It appears that they are mixing environmental education with the human inductive ability and how to comprehend environmental value through self-observation. This is mostly linked to their social values and morals, which are acquired through social interactions.

Environmental problems
A student from school B viewed environmental education as education about environmental problems. She stated, "There are issues about the environmental culture. It deals with environmental issues, problems, and the solutions to such problems and how we can contribute to the environment's protection. "

Factors influencing students' self-reported environmental attitudes and behaviours
To be able to identify the school factors that impact the students' self-reported environmental behaviours and attitudes it is essential to consider some of the areas of the topic that could be factors. Most of the participants, if not all, did not doubt that the curriculum in schools plays a crucial role in influencing students' environmental attitudes and behaviours. All participants acknowledged the importance of an environmental education curriculum in schools as a subject. For example, a student from grade 12 stated, "Yes, about the use of the curricula that help in increasing awareness about the protection of the environment. This is good because it is reflected in our health in the future. " See Table 5  For the researcher to gain an overview of the topics discussed in the environmental curriculum it was important to talk with the teachers about the environmental education that they taught in Omani schools. When the first researcher asked the participants about the topic areas included in environmental education classes they explained that the environmental topics were integrated with different subjects, such as science, geography and social studies. In addition, some teachers stated that there is no separate environmental curriculum in Omani schools. Moreover, the teachers provided some examples of these topics; see Table 6 (Supplementary Material) for some examples of the environmental topics.
However, teachers from schools C and D argued that the current topics are not enough for students. One teacher stated: Yes, but it is not enough. Environmental education is very weak. For example, it links the academic subject with environmental issues. It also tackles some problems about the population and its relation to an impact on the environment. Furthermore, teachers discussed some crucial factors that they thought influenced an individual's environmental attitudes and behaviours. Two teachers from school D discussed the importance and effectiveness of providing environmental education to young elementary school pupils to raise children's awareness, which in turn would shape their behaviours towards the environment. This would also result in having a generation that shows respect for the environment through their careful daily lifestyle choices. See Table 7 (Supplementary Material) for teachers' views of the major causes of environmentally unfriendly behaviours.
Regarding the discussion about introducing a separate environmental education subject in Omani schools, most of the participants insisted on the key role that this would play in strengthening students' knowledge, which in turn would build up their awareness about environmental topics. Most of the teachers, 87.5%, who participated in the research interviews strongly agreed with introducing a separate environmental subject in Omani schools. However, two teachers did not agree. One stated, "I don't support this. This will add more pressure on the teachers. It is acceptable, but for me, I do not know how to teach it. " The first researcher of this study categorised participants' answers regarding this issue. See Table 8 (Supplementary Material) for the teachers' perceptions of introducing a separate environmental subject in Omani schools.
Students' environmental knowledge was checked through some discussions to explore and understand their awareness of some environmental problems. Table 9 (Supplementary Material) shows the main categories found during the discussions about the participants' environmental knowledge. Most of the students proved some awareness about environmental issues within the country and around the world. However, some students from schools C and D indicated that they were not aware of the environmental problems.
In addition, the students discussed the reasons for their very limited knowledge of environmental issues. This helped the researcher gain a very deep understanding of the possible factors affecting their environmental knowledge, such as a lack of environmental education in schools and a lack of sources of environmental knowledge.

Self-reported attitudes and behaviours
The study revealed that the students' self-reported attitudes and behaviours towards the environment depended on some factors within the school, such as environmental knowledge and the environmental education curriculum.
The findings showed that most of the students who had a higher level of education and, therefore, an increased level of knowledge of environmental issues, had more pro-environmental behaviours. This complies with the theory of responsible environmental behaviour (REB), which explains that increasing knowledge results in more positive environmental attitudes (Hines et al., 1987). Additionally, through creating awareness, an environmental ethic is developed that creates an intrinsic motivation for conserving energy and reducing impacts on the environment, which are activities related to REB.
Furthermore, this study showed that different sources of environmental knowledge, such as television, online forums or social media, books, environmental education curricula and schools, greatly influence perceptions of the environment. Since all the students were from urban areas, they were often able to get in touch with the environmental issues being discussed. The responsibility that is placed on the shoulders of male children has contributed much to their attitudes and behaviours towards the environment by creating an awareness of the significance of the environment.
The behaviour of the students can have significant effects on the environment. It can be seen that environmental education has been able to provide countless benefits in encouraging sustainable behaviour (Hedefalk et al., 2015). Education about the environment and the need to conserve it has led to an awareness that has induced attitudes and behaviours in students such that they have embraced the concept of sustainability.
The environmental education curriculum is a very important factor that allows individual students to understand environmental adversities (Skuma et al., 2020). The students must understand the elements of adversity that have been caused by humans. In addition, this factor allows the behaviours and attitudes of students to be altered by exposure to relevant information. Hence, adequate knowledge allows students to reach sustainable goals more quickly, since education can produce a new generation that has the much-needed awareness of the need to achieve sustainability.

Environmental curriculum factor
Overall, it is clear from this research that, in the Omani context, the environmental curriculum has been developed as a unit integrated into social studies, geography and science. Moreover, the literature indicated that education is an effective tool to help change the individual's bad environmental behaviours to more sympathetic ones. Therefore, offering the students specifically designed subjects regarding environmental education will provide them with different opportunities to learn about the environment, and may result in broader considerations of the environment and its related issues. In addition, it would be expected to increase students' awareness of global issues, which would help to increase personal responsibility in terms of environmentally friendly practices.
Moreover, this study indicated the potential effectiveness of environmental education, as it impacts the overall ideology and thinking of young children. This is then able to dictate the actions and future behaviour of children, who will act in more environmentally friendly ways. This, in turn, will induce an attitude that can tackle the problem of global warming effectively. There is an example from Oman, where there has been a significant positive effect from teaching people to switch off unused household appliances, and this has been able to induce many advantages for the environment. It may be that students have received positive feedback regarding their actions and have become more willing to act appropriately (Ambusaidi, Boyes, Stanisstreet, & Taylor, 2012).
The findings of this research found that the majority of the students who lacked awareness of the importance of environmental education had a negative attitude about the environment, which influenced their choice of action. Education, as the key to the knowledge that unshackles the potential of young students, trains students on environmental matters, providing a foundation that prepares the students to be advocates against environmental injustices.
The findings show that environmental education has made a huge contribution to the general environmental consciousness in Oman. Student with better environmental education has increased pro-environmental behaviours. Education is crucial in creating awareness of environmental issues within Oman, and so enhances attitudes and behaviours that seek to conserve and protect the environment. This improved socially desirable response travels to a wider population, influencing the overall behaviours and attitudes. The institutions of learning need to ensure that all their schools are grounded in a good curriculum that will train students about the importance of the environment so that they will develop not only environmental activism but also appropriate individual behaviours.
Additionally, the current research within Oman has shown that willingness to accept behaviours is dependent on beliefs and attitudes that contribute to one's opinion about the environment. Similarly, the study supports the REB theory, which argues that increased knowledge directly translates to a favourable attitude towards the environment (Hines et al., 1987). The majority of the students within Oman who were knowledgeable about environmental issues had good attitudes towards the environment and were able to appreciate the substantial impact of human activity on it. Furthermore, the findings revealed that knowing the environment helps create environmental awareness. Students who are aware of environmental issues have demonstrated their motivation of committing themselves to practices that help conserve and protect the environment.

Environmental knowledge
In the study conducted, a higher percentage of male students than female students reported good environmental knowledge. . The socialisation and cultural pattern in Oman has nurtured males towards environmental protection. Gender-specific attitudes towards the environment have been recorded in Oman. The female gender recorded a law concern about the environment in Oman. Through the finding, the girl gender under the cultural and the societal role contributed greatly to this result. The cultural inclination in Omani society has been to propagate the hierarchical roles that give men a higher status than women, which has led to the ignorance of female students on concerns of the environment. Oman is a Muslim-dominated country, and places the male gender on a higher scale. Domination over women is rampant and posits a treatment of women and the environment from a superior position. Where male dominance is practised, females find themselves inferior to males. This has contributed to their ignorance of the environmental information based on a perception that the pursuit of knowledge about the environment may amount to an attempt to sabotage the superiority of the male gender. Oman, as a Muslim country, has seen men assume major roles relating to environmental concerns. The paths taken by the male gender in the society of Oman have given the male student a greater concern in pursuit of environmental issues. Findings in Oman show boys participate a lot in environmental issues compared to girls. This is due to the social engagement of the male gender in the culture and society of Oman. The level of environmental knowledge is related to the significant social awareness of Omani nationals. In addition, it can be seen that for the majority of Omani students in secondary schools the sources of knowledge are school and social media. This is because it is in school, mainly through the teachers educating them on the various aspects of the environment, that the students can acquire environmental knowledge.
Furthermore, social media enables students to obtain information through various adverts and programmes relating to the environment. As a result, the environmental attitude of the source delivering the information to students will determine the attitudes and behaviours of the students towards the environment. For instance, television programmes that are aired to encourage conservation will influence the students towards pro-environmental behaviours. Additionally, teachers delivering environmental topics with positive impacts on the environment will automatically encourage the students toward pro-environmental attitudes and traits.
The results of the study depict the trend that most of the secondary schools in Oman positively influence students' behaviours and attitudes in a pro-environmental direction. Moreover, from the study, a factor that had a significant role in positively influencing students to conserve the environment was the education curriculum, as it is through the common activity of education that students acquire knowledge and information. Furthermore, the incorporation of various environmental aspects serves as one of the main influences on the student's attitudes and behaviours.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors contribution
Dr Hana AL-Balushi contributed to the design and implementation of the research, to the analysis of the results and the writing of the manuscripts. Professor Abdullah Ambusaidi contributed to the review of the research, provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.