Student teacher reflections on futures-oriented sustainability education: negotiating transformation in an optional course

Abstract

Sustainability education (SE) calls for developing learners’ sustainability mindsets, yet less is known about how student teachers experience such learning, particularly in futures-oriented contexts. This study examines participant experiences in an optional teacher education course designed to support a sustainability mindset, with emphasis on futures-oriented learning. The course was structured around the four GreenComp competence areas and combined participatory pedagogies with structured reflective journals and futuring activities. Data consisted of 42 journal entries from seven student teachers and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants reported differing starting points across competence areas: sustainability values were often pre-existing, while envisioning sustainable futures and acting for sustainability were commonly perceived as underdeveloped. Reflections suggested increased tolerance for complexity, expanded futures imagination, and a stronger orientation towards collective action. Participants reported valuing the course’s personal relevance, fostered through reflection and a balance of creative and analytic tasks, as well as its participatory, non-hierarchical approach. Suggested improvements included more opportunities for practical action, engagement with diverse viewpoints, and additional futures work. The findings point to the potential of futures-oriented and reflective pedagogies to support agency and capacity-building in SE, while raising questions about how and by whom ‘transformation’ is conceptualised in an educational setting.