ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Teacher Education
Teacher Education and Sustainable Development: Sustainability Competences with an Interdisciplinary Approach in the Basic Education Degree Programme in Ecuador
Rita Carrera Flores
Maria Stella Serrano-Moreno
Sarah Nakalema Oshi
Catholic University of Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
Background: The current study examines the required skills for efficient sustainability education in the training of Basic Education teachers. It explores the usefulness of such skills in tackling environmental and social hurdles confronting the implementation of these skills I educational contexts. Methods: Qualitative methodology was used to delve into perceptions and beliefs experts on sustainability-related competences within teacher education curricula. Findings: Majority of the study participants opined that training of future basic education teachers should include an understanding of ethics, critical thinking, interdisciplinary knowledge, soft skills and technological capabilities. They further argued that teachers should be active participants as models of sustainability and digital teaching and learning. Conclusion: In conclusion, sustainability education requires systemic and multidimensional transformation rather than content inclusion in isolation. Sustainability education therefore should be central to teachers' identities and experiences.
Summary
Keywords
Basic-education, Education, Environmental-education, Interdisciplinary-approach, Professional-training, skills-development, sustainable development
Received
29 November 2025
Accepted
20 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Flores, Serrano-Moreno and Oshi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Sarah Nakalema Oshi
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.