Education for sustainable development in initial teacher training: issues for interdisciplinary collaboration

This article considers interdisciplinary approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) in initial teacher training (ITT) partnerships in the light of recent national policy initiatives. In identifying challenges for interdisciplinary innovation, it brings to bear research evidence from three sources: questionnaires sent to ITT partnership schools; questionnaire surveys of geography and science graduate student teachers; and questionnaire surveys of their school mentors. Key findings are that: schools are not yet well developed as sites for student teacher learning in the domain; student teachers generally have greater understanding of sustainable development than their mentors; geography mentors perceive themselves to be better prepared for mentoring in this area than their science counterparts (who feel ill‐prepared); for both students and mentors, there are significant gaps in understanding of ESD compared with representations found in the literature. Some implications and possible ways forward for interdisciplinary ESD in teacher education partnerships are discussed.