Teacher Training in Sustainability Education by Country

Teacher training in sustainability education measures how well countries prepare teachers to teach environmental issues, social justice, and global challenges. This indicator reflects whether teacher education programs systematically include climate change, human rights, cultural diversity, sustainable development, and global citizenship in pre-service and in-service training.

Understanding Teacher Training Integration

This indicator measures the extent to which global citizenship education (GCED) and education for sustainable development (ESD) are mainstreamed in teacher education. Even with strong policies and curricula, effective implementation depends on teachers who understand these topics and know how to teach them. The score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger integration in teacher preparation programs.

Teacher training is the critical link between curriculum and classroom. Countries with strong teacher training integration ensure that educators have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to deliver global citizenship and sustainability education effectively. Without adequate teacher preparation, even well-designed curricula remain poorly implemented, as teachers lack the expertise to teach complex topics like human rights, cultural diversity, and sustainable development.

The global landscape shows 63 countries with measurable teacher training integration. Eight countries achieve perfect scores (100%): Bahrain, Brazil, France, South Korea, Myanmar, and Romania. Many countries score in the 85-95% range, indicating strong teacher preparation. At the lower end, Peru (20.0%), Czechia (55.0%), and New Zealand (60.0%) show surprisingly weak teacher training integration despite some having strong education systems overall.

Teacher Training in Sustainability Education by Country

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#	Country	2020 Score
1	Bahrain BH	100
2	Brazil BR	100
3	France FR	100
4	Myanmar MM	100
5	Romania RO	100
6	South Korea KR	100
7	Cuba CU	95
8	Cyprus CY	95
9	Estonia EE	95
10	Germany DE	95
11	India IN	95
12	Jordan JO	95
13	Latvia LV	95
14	Thailand TH	95
15	Ukraine UA	95
16	Hungary HU	92.5
17	Burkina Faso BF	90
18	Cambodia KH	90
19	DR Congo CD	90
20	Kyrgyzstan KG	90
21	Lithuania LT	90
22	Malaysia MY	90
23	Malta MT	90
24	Mauritius MU	90
25	Malawi MW	90
26	Nicaragua NI	90
27	Poland PL	90
28	Russia RU	90
29	San Marino SM	90
30	Syria SY	90
31	Turkmenistan TM	90
32	Türkiye TR	90
33	Armenia AM	85
34	Colombia CO	85
35	Finland FI	85
36	Ireland IE	85
37	Monaco MC	85
38	Mongolia MN	85
39	Oman OM	85
40	Slovenia SI	85
41	Sweden SE	83.3
42	Bangladesh BD	82.5
43	Dominican Republic DO	82.5
44	Belgium BE	80
45	Italy IT	80
46	Kuwait KW	80
47	Mexico MX	80
48	Palestine PS	80
49	Saint Kitts and Nevis KN	80
50	Andorra AD	77.5
51	Bolivia BO	77.5
52	Denmark DK	77.5
53	Moldova MD	75
54	Bulgaria BG	72.5
55	Austria AT	70
56	Canada CA	70
57	Albania AL	67.5
58	Algeria DZ	65
59	Burundi BI	62.5
60	New Zealand NZ	60
61	Czech Republic CZ	55
62	Peru PE	20

Regional Patterns

European countries show strong but varied teacher training integration. France (100%), Romania (100%), Germany (95.0%), Spain (95.0%), Estonia (95.0%), and Latvia (95.0%) lead the region. Finland (85.0%), Ireland (85.0%), and Slovenia (85.0%) show solid integration. However, significant variation exists: Czechia (55.0%), Austria (70.0%), and Canada (70.0%) show weaker teacher preparation. This suggests that even within developed regions, teacher training prioritization varies substantially.

Latin American countries display extreme variation. Brazil (100%) achieves perfect integration, while Bolivia (77.5%), Colombia (85.0%), and Dominican Republic (82.5%) show strong preparation. However, Peru (20.0%) shows remarkably weak teacher training integration despite having strong policy frameworks (100%). This dramatic gap highlights the challenge of translating policy commitments into teacher preparation capacity.

Asian countries demonstrate strong teacher training integration. South Korea (100%), Myanmar (100%), India (95.0%), and Thailand (95.0%) lead the region. Cambodia (90.0%), Kyrgyzstan (90.0%), Malaysia (90.0%), and Bangladesh (82.5%) show solid integration. This regional strength reflects recognition that teacher preparation is essential for effective implementation of global citizenship and sustainability education.

Middle Eastern countries show strong integration. Bahrain (100%) achieves perfect scores, while Jordan (95.0%), Oman (85.0%), Kuwait (80.0%), and Palestine (80.0%) demonstrate solid teacher preparation. Algeria (65.0%) lags somewhat behind. These scores suggest regional investment in preparing teachers to deliver global citizenship and sustainability education.

Implications and Challenges

Strong teacher training integration enables effective implementation. Countries scoring above 90% have embedded global citizenship and sustainability topics throughout teacher education, ensuring educators have the knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach these complex topics effectively. This preparation is essential for translating curriculum intentions into classroom reality.

However, teacher training faces capacity challenges. Providing quality preparation across large teaching workforces requires substantial investment in teacher education institutions, faculty expertise, and ongoing professional development. Many countries struggle to scale teacher training to reach all educators, particularly in-service teachers educated before these topics became priorities.

The Peru anomaly highlights implementation gaps. Peru scores 100% on policies and 81.3% on curricula but only 20.0% on teacher training. This dramatic gap suggests that policy commitments and curriculum development have outpaced teacher preparation capacity. Without adequate teacher training, even strong policies and curricula cannot be implemented effectively, leaving a critical gap in the implementation chain.