Teacher Competencies and Readiness for Education for Sustainable Development: A Case from Teacher Education in Turkey

Sustainable development is an effective way to end environmental, social, and economic problems we all face nowadays, and teachers are the key leaders to guide the society on this action. To do this, teachers are expected to possess specific competencies. This chapter provides an insight into Turkish pre-service primary school teachers’ readiness level for teaching Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by investigating their perceptions on competencies for ESD. Presenting the perspectives of 1008 pre-service primary school teachers from 12 universities across Turkey, the chapter is based on the data collected through a survey developed by the researchers. The results demonstrate that Turkish pre-service primary school teachers felt more competent in emotions as compared to the values, systems-thinking, and knowledge competencies respectively. Additionally, the development level of the city where the participants lived influenced their perceptions. In this regard, the chapter discusses the need for integrating ESD into teacher education programs with more focus on knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. It also suggests taking the development level into consideration whilst planning the programs at universities in different cities.