Upper secondary school students\u27 attitude towards invasive alien species

Širjenje invazivnih tujerodnih vrst (ITV) predstavlja čedalje večji svetovni problem. Uspešnost nadzorovalnih programov ITV je odvisna od javne podpore, zato je potrebno poznati ozaveščenost in stališča javnosti do ITV. V naši raziskavi smo ugotavljali, kakšen je odnos dijakov različnih izobraževalnih programov do problematike ITV. Raziskava je bila opravljena kot anonimno spletno anketiranje srednješolcev z območja Novega mesta. V raziskavi je sodeloval 401 dijak, od tega 297 dijakov splošnih izobraževalnih programov in 104 dijaki srednjih strokovnih šol. Slednji so obiskovali izobraževalna programa naravovarstveni tehnik in kmetijsko-podjetniški tehnik. Dijaki so odgovarjali na preizkus znanja in anketni vprašalnik, s katerim smo preverjali njihovo znanje o ITV in njihova stališča do te problematike ter njihove sposobnosti pravilnega poimenovanja in prepoznavanja domorodnih in ITV. Dijaki pojme biotska pestrost, tujerodna vrsta, ITV dobro razlikujejo. Razumevanje pojma biodiverziteta je slabo, saj ga je pravilno opredelilo manj kot polovica dijakov. Med dijaki različnih izobraževalnih programov ne opazimo bistvenih odstopanj v odnosu do ITV. Dijaki se zavedajo, da ITV predstavljajo grožnjo biotski pestrosti, zdravju ljudi in gospodarstvu. Zdi se jim smiselno izvajanje nadzorovalnih programov in odstranjevalnih akcij ITV. Kljub temu pa se sami v podobne akcije ne bi vključevali. Dijaki so mnenja, da nimajo dovolj znanja o ITV, vendar ne kažejo interesa, da bi ga z lastno dejavnostjo izpopolnili. Večje razlike med šolama opazimo v znanju dijakov. Gimnazijci so bili pri opredeljevanju vrst, ali je organizem na sliki domoroden/ITV, uspešnejši kot dijaki strokovnih šol. Sposobnost pravilnega poimenovanja domorodnih in ITV je šibka. Ugotavljamo, da dijaki bolje poznajo živalske kot rastlinske vrste. Menimo, da bi bilo treba v prihodnje v raziskave vključiti še druge srednješolske zavode s širšega območja Slovenije, in ugotoviti splošno znanje in odnos mladostnikov do tega svetovno pomembnega okoljskega problema.The spread of invasive alien species (IAS) has become an increasingly important global issue. The success of alien control management depends on the level of public acceptance, therefore it is good to know about awareness and attitudes towards IAS among general public. The aim of our study was to explore the attitude of the upper secondary school students towards IAS. An anonymous online survey was conducted. A total of 401 students of the upper secondary schools from Novo mesto participated in the survey. 297 students of general education programs and 104 students of secondary vocation schools were included. The students responded to the questionnaire, which included questions about the level of knowledge about IAS, students\u27 attitude and their ability to correctly name and indentify native species and IAS. Although students distinguish terms biodiversity, non - native species and IAS their understanding of the term biodiversity is poor. Less than half of the participants correctly understand its meaning. No significant differences were noted between the attitude towards the IAS among students of different educational programmes. Students are aware of negative impact of the IAS on the biodiversity, human health and economy. They support control management and eradication of IAS. Nevertheless they would not engage in similar actions themselves. Although they recognize, that their knowledge of the IAS is poor, they do not show an interest in improving it. In our study the knowledge of the IAS significantly differ between students from different educational programmes. Students of general education programs were more successful than students from vocation schools in naming and defining species as native/IAS. Students’ ability to correctly name native/IAS in general is weak. Results show that students are better acquainted with the animal species than with the plants. To determine the general knowledge and attitude of adolescents toward IAS we should extend our research and include other upper secondary schools in Slovenia