Predicting Student Teachers’ ESD Implementation Intention: The Role of Values, Beliefs, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy

The study aims to understand the relationship between predictors of student teachers’ intention to implement education for sustainable development (ESD). It proposes and evaluates the intention to implement the ESD model, which identifies the following predictors of student teachers’ intention to implement ESD: (I) teacher self-efficacy, (II) teacher beliefs (about learning and teaching), (III) the assessment of the ESD value and (IV) attitudes towards sustainable development (SD). Using structural equation modeling, 706 student teachers’ data have been analyzed. Teacher self-efficacy and ESD value assessment have a direct positive effect on the intention to implement ESD. Furthermore, the assessment of ESD values and constructivist teacher beliefs has an indirect positive effect on the intention to implement ESD mediated by teacher self-efficacy. The more student teachers assess themselves as capable of ESD implementation, nurturing constructivist beliefs about the nature of knowledge, learning, and teaching, as well as value education as a tool for advancing society toward SD, the higher their intention to implement ESD in the future.