Rethinking Education: Empowering Preservice Teachers for Sustainability in Education in South Africa

Background/purpose. Education for sustainability (EfS) has been identified as a critical approach to equipping preservice teachers to address complex sustainability problems. Many teacher education institutions have been identified to equip preservice teachers with tools to promote sustainability in diverse learning environments. However, there is little EfS pedagogical knowledge to prepare preservice teachers thoroughly and systematically. Hence, they graduate without the necessary knowledge and skills to teach in ways that enable them to embed EfS. This study explored how EfS can be meaningfully embedded within initial teacher education in a South African context. It investigated the competencies preservice teachers should develop and the pedagogical and institutional strategies required to support transformative learning.

Materials/methods. Using a qualitative case study design, the research employed semi-structured interviews and document analysis to explore the perspectives of lecturers and preservice teachers at the University of the Free State, after obtaining permission from both the Ethics Committee and the participants. The interviews lasted for 30 minutes each. Data analysis through thematic analysis yielded six themes.

Results. The findings reveal that practical implementation in teacher education faces systemic barriers, including limited institutional support and incoherent curriculum design. The study also found a need for intentional, holistic approaches to integrating EfS that are rooted in critical reflection and transformative pedagogy.

Conclusion. The study concludes that EfS is not systematically implemented but rather according to understandings of what it is about. The lack of opportunities for consistent capacity-building due to a lack of guidelines leads to limited exposure to existing pedagogical preparedness. The study offers practical recommendations for embedding sustainability across teacher education programs and highlights the importance of aligning national and international policy frameworks with local practices.

Keywords: Education for Sustainability, Empowerment, Competencies, Preservice Teachers, Transformative Learning

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