Education for Sustainability Through Transformative Learning: A Competency-Based Design in Teacher Education

Teacher education programs often fail to bridge the gap between sustainability knowledge and its practice, leaving pre-service teachers ill-equipped to implement Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Addressing this knowledge–action gap, the present study draws on Mezirow’s ten-phase perspective transformation model and the UNESCO ESD competency framework. It examines how a competency-based pedagogical design is associated with (a) pre-service social studies teachers’ sustainability awareness and (b) the transformation of their experiences across the stages of transformative learning. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed with 33 pre-service teachers enrolled in a “Sustainable Development and Education” course during the fall semester of the 2025–2026 academic year. The ten-week instructional program was organized around four core processes: disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, rational discourse, and action. Quantitatively, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed statistically significant increases in overall sustainability awareness and across all three sub-dimensions—economy, society, and environment—with large effect sizes according to Cohen’s criteria. Qualitatively, participants shifted from individual responsibility to systemic awareness, revised their consumption practices, and reframed sustainability as a pedagogical responsibility. Disconfirming patterns also emerged: some retained their initial perspectives, while others reported heightened feelings of helplessness despite greater awareness. Findings suggest that transformative learning offers a robust framework for action-oriented sustainability education, while demonstrating that behavioral and professional transfer remains a complex process.