Impact of sustainability-focused learning intervention on teachers’ agency to teach for sustainable development

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been identified as a key enabler of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Considering the vital role of ESD, a framework ‘ESD for 2030ʹ has been prepared by UNESCO to take the 2030 Agenda forward. Since teachers are the key players in the successful implementation of ESD, many teacher preparation programmes across the world integrate different aspects of ESD in the existing courses to develop pre-service teachers’ capacities as ESD educators. The current study was an attempt to investigate the impact of integrating ESD (in an existing course) on pre-service teachers’ agency to act as ESD educators in schools. As a part of the course ‘Research Methods in Education’, pre-service teachers were engaged in a pedagogical intervention (sustainability-focused undergraduate research) for a period of 11–13 weeks. The research projects were related to gender inequality, environmental consciousness, and economic disparities. The data were collected from 38 paired observations (before and after participating in sustainability-focused undergraduate research) and interviews of 44 participants. The data indicated that the sustainability-focused pedagogical intervention was partially effective in helping pre-service teachers to act as sustainability educators. The findings indicate a need of including dedicated, standalone courses on ESD in teacher preparation programmes in order to empower the pre-service teachers as ESD educators.