Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability Feed

Editorial: How Can Teacher Education Within Ecological Culture Weave a More Sustainable Web?

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A Discursive Analysis of Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Views on Climate Change

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is associated with a strong focus on the environment and climate change. Within the context of ESD studies, there is a growing line of research, which demonstrates that the issue of climate change forms an integral part of the ESD teaching and learning process. Accordingly, it is of critical importance to acquire a thorough and nuanced understanding of how pre-service teachers view the issue of climate change. In this light, the present article introduces a study that analyses how a group of Ukrainian pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) (hereinafter referred to as participants) views the issue of climate change. To that end, the participants were requested to write a reflective essay titled “My View on Climate Change before and during the War in Ukraine”. The discursive analysis of the participants’ essays focused on the following two aspects: (i) the participants’ descriptors of climate change manifested by adjectives and (ii) the participants’ emotional states associated with climate change. The results of the unpaired t-test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the adjectives that described the participants’ views on climate change before the war in Ukraine and those of the ongoing war. It followed from the unpaired t-test that there was no statistically significant difference between the means of emotive lexica associated with climate change before and during the war. The findings and their implications to the fields of EFL and ESD, respectively, are further described in the article.

Influencing Sustainable Behavior Through Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study on Single-Use Plastic Pen Consumption at a Teacher Education Institution in Kerala, India

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Sustainable campus practices in educational institutions often focus on infrastructure improvements and event-based green initiatives, while the environmental impact of everyday stationery items, particularly single-use plastic (SUP) pens, is frequently overlooked. This study conducts a survey on SUP pen consumption at a teacher education institution affiliated to the University of Kerala, India, followed by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate their environmental footprint. The findings reveal significant environmental consequences, including global warming and aquamarine ecotoxicity, due to unmonitored usage driven by a heavy reliance on written assessments. After presenting the LCA report at the institution, the study assesses changes in user behavior, exploring the effectiveness of LCA as an educational tool for promoting sustainable practices. It is noted that the intervention enables student-teachers to render otherwise intangible forms of pollution, such as carbon emissions, aquatic toxicity, eutrophication, and resource depletion, into tangible representations, thereby enhancing ecological literacy through evidence-based reflection and improving their ability to communicate sustainability concepts to their students. As universities in India are planning to implement the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) and new syllabi-assessment systems, the research highlights the potential of digital alternatives to reduce environmental impact and foster sustainability.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Readiness for Green Pedagogy: The Impact of Institutional Support, Environmental Awareness, and Sustainability Mindset

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Green Pedagogical Skills are essential for preparing prospective teachers to act as agents of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). However, previous studies tend to be fragmented, focusing on individual (psychological–pedagogical) or structural factors. This research analyzes the factors influencing GPS among 369 pre-service teachers (PSTs) who have completed teaching practice, using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The result shows the strong predictive model (R² GPS = 0.795) with environmental awareness (EA) as the dominant predictor. Teaching readiness (TR) not only had a direct effect on GPS but also increased green self-efficacy (SE). Then, structural support (SS) had a dual effect: it strengthened GPS directly but weakened the EA-GPS relationship through negative moderation. The research concludes that GPS development requires integrating a holistic approach, strengthening individual capacity (knowledge– mindset–readiness), and designing context-based structural policies. The findings indicate that it is not enough to develop PSTs’ GPS by improving their environmental awareness; it also requires structural supports, their teaching readiness, and green self-efficacy in the curriculum.

Peace Education in ASEAN Higher Education: A Meta-Synthesis of Practices, Outcomes, and Lessons on Education for Peace in Post-Pandemic

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This study aimed to synthesize scholarly works on peace education implementation in higher education, focusing on the practices, outcomes, and lessons in post-pandemic (2022–2025) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Following the standard protocol outline in the PRISMA framework, meta-synthesis was systematically performed by reviewing empirical studies based on the criteria. The synthesized outcomes revealed three themes such as rethinking instructional design and educational planning, the associated challenges in the implementation of peace education, and the perceived strategies in overcoming some challenges. These outcomes were attributed to the practices of peace education being integrated into religious literacy and cross-cultural education. However, lessons such as the involvement of religion in peace education, redesigning the curriculum, and alliance formation of different stakeholders reflected the desire for a more inclusive society and sustainable education.

Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Faculty Perspectives on Challenges and Practice

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

As sustainability becomes an increasingly urgent global concern, higher education institutions play a vital role in preparing graduates to respond to environmental, social, and economic challenges. In places like the United Arab Emirates, this is especially crucial because it ties directly into the country’s national plans and goals for sustainable education. This study dives into how teachers at a government university in the UAE currently think about, teach, and put sustainability into practice, specifically looking at what helps them and what the barriers are to meaningful integration. Using a mixed-methods design, data were collected from 144 faculty members across a range of disciplines through surveys and follow-up focus groups. The findings reveal faculty members personally care a lot about sustainability and are committed to weaving it into their courses. However, there are real-world obstacles like not enough training, limited time, ambiguity in guidance and a disconnect between official sustainability policies and what actually happens in the classroom. Qualitative insights highlight the importance of experiential and applied learning, with faculty emphasizing the value of “learning by doing” to help students move from awareness to action. The study also identified that sustainability is often seen mostly as an environmental issue, and there is limited collaboration between different departments. In addition, there seems to be a perceived gap between what students learn about sustainability and how it prepares them for jobs. Overall, the findings suggest that while momentum for sustainability integration exists, greater institutional support, professional development, and coordinated leadership are needed to bridge the gap between intention and practice. The study offers practical insights for higher education leaders seeking to strengthen sustainability education in rapidly developing contexts such as the UAE.

Educators’ Insights on Digital Transformation in Education Through the Lens of the Sustainable Development Goals

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The quantitative research aims to investigate the perceptions of Jordanian teachers towards Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Digital Transformation of Education aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 4 “Quality Education”. A total of 232 Amman teachers from public and private schools participated in an online questionnaire consisting of 41 points related to their perceptions of ESD and the quality of digital transformation in education. The instrument had satisfactory reliability (α = .82) and excellent content and construct validity. Descriptive information and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) have been applied to check variations by gender, specialization, years of experience, teaching stage, and school type. Significant multivariate effects on subject specialization, type of school, and teaching experience were found. Women and government-school teachers, and those with less than a decade of experience, showed higher awareness and digital competency levels regarding the incorporation of ESD. The results highlight the requirement for specific professional development and institutional support so that teachers’ digital readiness for sustainable education can be enhanced. The study contributes Arab evidence from experience to empirical research, offering policy and practice suggestions for achieving fair and transformative education consistent with SDG 4.

Ecological Intelligence at the Heart of Ecoliteracy: A Conceptual Framework and Scale Development Study

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ecological intelligence, a subdimension of ecoliteracy, encourages sustainable living by rethinking purchasing behaviors and understanding their environmental impacts. This paper develops the Ecological Intelligence Scale (EIS) to measure this concept, integrating insights from economics, psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and education. It highlights the role of ecological intelligence in fostering communities that share knowledge, take responsibility, and promote conscious consumption. The study was conducted with prospective teachers at a state university in eastern Turkey. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a 24-item scale with four factors – collective consciousness, sustainable consumption, environmental activism, and empathy – was developed and validated. The EIS is a reliable tool, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.898 and 0.917, to assess ecological intelligence. This paper fills a gap in the literature by offering a concrete, multidisciplinary approach to understanding and measuring ecological intelligence, thereby providing a valuable resource for educators.

Knowledge Sharing as a Catalyst: Quantifying Teacher Readiness for Emergency Remote Teaching Toward Sustainable Development

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an abrupt transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT), exposing systemic vulnerabilities and accelerating practice-based professional development. This study examines how teachers’ adaptation to ERT provides insights for designing sustainable professional learning systems. Using learning curve (LC) models, we analyze the dynamics of skill acquisition across subject areas and identify knowledge sharing as a critical factor in competence development. Findings suggest that collaborative learning and digital competence – both of which intensified during the pandemic – should be embedded in teacher education for sustainable development (ESD), ensuring preparedness for future disruptions and fostering lifelong learning.

Towards a Sustainable and Disruption-Proof Teaching Internship Program: Lessons From the Pandemic and Flexible Learning Delivery Systems

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted teacher education worldwide, raising critical questions about the sustainability of practice teaching as a core component of pre-service preparation. This study examines how six teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the Philippines reconfigured their practice teaching programs during the pandemic and identifies institutional strategies that enabled continuity under conditions of disruption. Using a multiple case study design, data were generated from 13 ethnographic focus group discussions involving practice teachers, cooperating teachers, supervising teachers, and coordinators. Thematic analysis revealed six interrelated dimensions of institutional adaptation: policy flexibility, partnerships, institutional support, capacity building, competency development, and supervision processes. Findings show that TEIs implemented a range of context-responsive adjustments, including localized deployment, flexible recognition of practice teaching requirements, integration of digital platforms, and alternative approaches to assessment and supervision. While these responses were largely reactive and exposed structural limitations in preparedness, they also demonstrated institutional adaptability and innovation. The study argues that sustainable practice teaching requires moving beyond crisis-driven responses toward models that embed flexibility, collaboration, and resilience within teacher education systems. These insights contribute to ongoing efforts to design disruption-proof practice teaching programs capable of responding to future uncertainties.

Andragogues’ Readiness to Design the Educational Process in the System of Non-formal Adult Education in Ukraine as a Resource for Sustainable Development

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This article presents the results of an action-research-oriented study on andragogues’ readiness to design the educational process in non-formal adult education in Ukraine in the context of reorienting education towards sustainability. This orientation is reflected in the active involvement of the researchers – as members of the Ukrainian Adult Education Association and practitioners in the field of adult education – in the professional community under study, as well as in the practice-oriented focus of the findings aimed at supporting the further development of andragogical expertise. The study is based on a questionnaire survey of 35 members of the Ukrainian Adult Education Association. The findings reveal both sustainable and unsustainable aspects of educational design practice, particularly regarding content selection, learning formats, assessment approaches, and partnership with adult learners. More than half of the respondents report a need to deepen their competencies in educational design. Communication, empathy, and creativity emerge as personally meaningful qualities influencing educational quality and sustainability-oriented practice. The article highlights institutional and personal conditions shaping educational design and argues for systematic professional development and cross-sectoral cooperation. The results contribute to a more holistic understanding of andragogues’ professional readiness and support the development of Education for Sustainable Development in contexts of social transformation.

Burnout of Working Students in Latvia: Implications for Sustainability and Inclusivity in Higher Education

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The pursuit of the high quality of higher education, especially within the framework of sustainable development goals of the United Nations, necessitates a nuanced understanding of factors impacting student learning, with burnout emerging as a critical concern that affects concentration, memory, and cognitive functions. This study investigates the level of burnout and the influence of common factors contributing to burnout among Latvian higher education students, with a focus on working students, who constitute over half of the student population in Latvia. Utilizing a quantitative survey of 393 respondents and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the research reveals moderate burnout levels across both work and study domains, with exhaustion identified as a prominent factor. The moderate burnout level underscores the need for sustainable pedagogical practices that align with SDG 4 “Quality Education,” advocating for interventions that promote both academic and emotional well-being. This study emphasizes the necessity of developing tailored, sustainability-focused strategies to enhance the educational experience and support the well-being of working students.

Integrating Sustainable Development Goals Into Teacher Education Curriculum to Strengthen Future Teachers’ Sustainability Awareness

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The study examines the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into the Professional Teacher Education Program (PPG) curriculum to enhance prospective educators’ sustainability awareness and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Grounded in the transformative learning theory and informed by best practices from the University of Kitakyushu, the study employed a mixed methods design combining survey data (n=257) with focus group discussions (n=20). The study explored effective ESD practices, curriculum integration strategies, and implementation challenges among teacher education stakeholders. Findings reveal high awareness of SDGs (81.3%) and ESD (74.3%), though the depth of understanding varies. Strong support for ESD integration was evident, with participants highlighting alignment between global sustainability challenges and national priorities. The statistical analysis confirmed that PPG participation significantly influenced sustainability awareness (p<0.01). The proposed three-dimensional integration framework offers actionable, evidence-based strategies for curriculum developers and institutional leaders to prepare future teachers as sustainability change agents.

A Toolbox for Integrating the One Health Approach Into Biology Teacher Training

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This study advocates integrating the One Health approach into biology teacher education to address the current fragmentation of human, animal, and environmental health teaching across disciplines such as medicine, veterinary science, and ecology. Recognizing gaps in teacher training, particularly in didactic strategies for holistic instruction, the study presents the design of an instructional activity within the expanding One Health toolbox for biology educators. Using mitosis as a gateway topic, the activity situates cellular processes within an ecotoxicology scenario of herbicide contamination in a freshwater lagoon. Through inquiry, modeling, and argumentation, pre-service teachers investigate environmental, animal, and human health interconnections while reflecting on strategies for classroom integration. This design aims to strengthen biology teacher competencies (TeachComp) and contribute to reorienting teacher education towards sustainability, fostering eco-social awareness and interdisciplinary thinking essential for addressing contemporary health and environmental crises.

Integrating Climate Change Education Into Teacher Education Curricula in Mongolia

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Teacher education plays a crucial role in preparing teachers to teach about climate change and its impacts on nature and society. This study analyzes the pre-service teacher education curricula at the Mongolian National University of Education (MNUE) to determine the current state of integrating climate change education (CCE) into teacher education in Mongolia. This study aims to identify CCE current practices, gaps, and challenges. Terms related to climate change and/or climate change education have been extracted from the learning objectives of the SDG 13 “Climate Action” according to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the extent of their occurrence in the syllabi of all courses offered by the MNUE’s undergraduate schools has been analyzed. The analysis has revealed that the terms only appeared in 24 courses, mostly professional education courses, and CCE is not emphasized in the curricula. According to the findings, CCE is found in only two course syllabi, and the extracted terms have not been directly incorporated into any of the five sections of those syllabi. However, the study has identified some good practices that can be built upon to enhance the integration of CCE into teacher education. The findings of the study provide a foundation for further research and development of strategies to mainstream CCE in the teacher education schedule.

From Metaphors and Complicated Approach to a Complex Pedagogical Method

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The authors of the article have intended to examine the situation that has developed around the future of education and has begun to affect people with various unexpected turns and uncertainties in their daily lives. Education affects everyone and has an impact on the future of all people. Therefore, researchers of participatory ideas have addressed the uncertainties and problems of recent years in various situations and, with the techniques of reflexive hermeneutics of their lived experience, propose taking into account the uncertainties of using current complicated and complex approaches in understanding the complex nature of pedagogy. This could help divert the current wicked problems away from the dominant use of complicated approaches and mitigate the impact of the Anthropocene, as well as prevent the potential collapse of education under the conditions of the Anthropocene.

‘There Is No Cloud?’ Awareness of Digital Technology in a Sustainability Perspective in Teacher Education

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Global North can be described as postdigital societies where digital infrastructure and applications such as social media or so-called artificial intelligence are ubiquitous. Schools are obviously part of the postdigital society, and there is a call for teachers to use digital tools to engage and facilitate learning for pupils. However, from a sustainability perspective, the digital society also has significant adverse effects, including water and energy consumption and social polarization. Thus, teachers need to be aware of both positive and negative aspects of digital tools. This action research study reflects on an instructional design intended to support Norwegian student teachers in analyzing digital tools with respect to sustainability. Although it has been challenging to create awareness of the tools in a holistic conception of sustainability, the project provides a starting point for reflections on how the positioning of knowledge and pupils connects with perspectives on sustainability.

Windmills of the Young Mind (2): Interpreting and Contextualizing Preschool Children’s Perception of the World

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The authors of the paper aim to highlight that visual literacy, accompanied by lexical pliancy, already at the stages of pre-school education, provides a basis for multimodal thinking, interdisciplinary synthesis, and cognitive flexibility, which are crucial for a child to advance personally and later professionally. The development of a child across cognitive, physical, and social-emotional dimensions of learning is encompassed by the framework of Education for Sustainable Development. The present article outlines the results of a one-year project, “Sustainable Model Design for Conceptual System and Lexical Framework Pliancy Analysis for Perceptual Data Processing of the Preschool Age Actors” (2024–2025), conducted by the Institute of Digital Humanities of the Faculty of Computer Science, Information Technology and Energy of Riga Technical University (RTU) and RTU Liepaja Academy. The research project explores the conceptual system and lexical framework pliancy for perceptual data processing exhibited by pre-school children (5 to 7 years old) to perceive their surrounding environment, comprehend the contextual framework, and communicate efficiently. Preschool children from three preschool educational institutions in three different counties of Latvia have been engaged in the experimental study conducted from March to April 2025. Storytelling with drawings has been used as a method of data collection. Five concepts – dream, future, freedom, homeland, and security – have been chosen for the experimental study. A total of 169 children’s drawings and corresponding narrative transcripts have been obtained. The current article continues the line of inquiry developed in a previous study, which introduced the conceptual framework and research methodology (see Ivanova et al., 2025). The analysis of children’s drawings reveals that even at a young age, they can operate on multiple conceptual levels. They can define concepts by examples or opposites, focus on self or society, and imagine immediate and distant futures, as well as imaginary worlds and fantasies. The findings of the research demonstrate that efficient cognitive development not only strengthens pre-school children’s capacity to recognize and interpret elements of their surrounding world but also creates the basis for more sophisticated information processing skills. The findings offer evidence-based insights that can guide policymakers, institutional leaders, and sector stakeholders in designing development agendas aligned with Education for Sustainable Development.

Silent Communication: Pedagogical Pathways Between Environmental Agents’ Internal and External Conversations in School Climate Change Action

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

This study explores how environmental agents in schools transform reflexive internal conversations into external communication oriented toward achieving shared understandings in climate change action. This conceptual framework combines Margaret Archer’s modes of reflexivity (communicative, autonomous, meta-reflexive, and fractured) with Jürgen Habermas’s typology of communicative action (instrumental, communicative, and strategic). The reflexivity layer assesses how agents think and act, while the communicative action layer assesses the importance of knowledge and the direction of action. Using a critical ethnographic approach, this study uncovers hidden realities through offline and online conversations between environmental agents during school climate action. The results reveal teacher-student interactions that can be empowering and limiting, shifting between dominance, interdependence, connectedness, and disconnection. These conditions are influenced by the extent to which opportunities for reflective monitoring are provided through dialogue, discussion, and deliberation. Key findings reveal that silent communication connects internal reflection with external dialogue as a bridge between personal agency and collective action. This study highlights the pedagogical implications of integrating communicative action with reflexivity in strengthening Education for Sustainable Development through climate change action in schools.

Well-Being Monitoring Within Human-Environment Interactions: A Systematic Review

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The systematic literature review analyzes well-being monitoring through the lens of human-environment interaction to identify the criteria impacting well-being, data sources, and models used to characterize well-being processes. The study addresses two research questions: How are human-environment interactions related to well-being? What is the influence of the spatial dimension on well-being monitoring? Reviewing 73 relevant articles, the authors of the study have found that the dominant approach is anthropocentric, emphasizing ecosystems as services for human well-being, while holistic and ecocentric perspectives are underrepresented. Furthermore, there is a significant lack of quantitative and causal research, especially concerning the feedback loop from human well-being to environmental well-being. Studies are mainly focused on the national or regional level, neglecting the local scale, dynamic models, and the use of modern technologies like satellite imagery. These findings underscore the need to integrate systems thinking and environmental monitoring competencies into sustainability education to better prepare future generations to address complex human-environment challenges.