Teacher Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development

Nena Vukelić

Summary:  When considering teachers’ competencies in education for sustainable development (ESD), both theory and practice emphasise the importance of teachers’ willingness to act on the implementation of the ESD. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the construct of teacher action competence that describes teachers’ action potential in ESD. This paper proposes a Model of Teacher Action Competence in ESD that consists of three interrelated multidimensional aspects: (I) knowledge and abilities (ESD content and pedagogical content knowledge), (II) motivational beliefs (teacher ESD self-efficacy, ESD value assessment, and ascription of personal responsibility), and (III) willingness to act (intention to implement ESD). The proposed model has the potential to be empirically researched, and the relationships among the competence elements can have significant implications for planning educational interventions aimed at training ESD teachers.