The 21st century is characterised by uncertainty. The world is facing different social, political and economic crises such as inequality, instability, climate change, diseases and pandemics, which means that humanity has to face new global challenges that significantly affect our existence and development (Worldwatch Institute, 2016). Agenda 2030, developed by UN, serves as a guideline for responding to global developments and aims to leave no one behind. Within this framework, the UN agreed on  17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim is to ensure prosperity and well-being for all, to strengthen peace and to protect our planet (UNESCO, 2017). To achieve these objectives, Education has immense significance in the context of Agenda 2030: on the one hand, it is defined as an explicit goal (SDG4), on the other education is seen as a key instrument and resource for a comprehensive implementation of Agenda 2030 (UNESCO, 2017; Ferrer-Estévez & Chalmeta, 2021).

Teacher Educators plays a crucial role in supporting the global agenda for sustainability. They can be described as key actors in formal education who can bring about a change in behaviour towards sustainability and must  provide pre-service teachers with the tools and skills to achieve transformation process (Anderson, 2017). Also Cramer et al. (2020) or Darling- Hammond (2006) point out the influence of teachers’ knowledge of students learning outcomes.

Since the early 1990s, increasing attention has been paid to the crucial role of teacher educators in educational practice as well as their research and policy (Koster, Brekelmans, Korthagen & Wubbels, 2005). However, they are still described as a “hidden profession” (Murray, 2011). There is very little scientific evidence on teacher educator knowledge and how they act in teaching situations (Schratz, 2012). The impact of teacher educators on the professionalism of future teachers and therefor also on the curricular priorities will shape learning in classrooms for decades. Having the SDGs in mind, it is inevitable to promote teacher educators’ professional awareness and identity, it to strengthen their different competences (knowledge, abilities, values) and their teaching practices. A crucial factor for the implementation of the SDGs in teaching is the attitude and self-efficacy of individuals (Knoll et al., 2005). The educators own understanding of what they are doing influences the values they pass on to those they teach. Recent studies (García-Rico et al., 2021) have shown the potential for strengthening teachers’ knowledge, understanding, sensitivity and bias towards sustainability. The role of teachers therefore strongly influences the extent to which pupils are confronted with the transformation processes and development towards sustainability the SDGs are aiming for (UNESCO, 2017).

This paper discusses findings from an international project between South Africa and Austria, funded from OeAD (2023-2025) which aims to get a deeper theoretical understanding of teachers educators’ professionalism in relation to sustainability. Initial, emergent findings from the data collection will be presented. The focus of the paper will be on the following questions:

• How do teacher educators define their professional role regarding Agenda 2030?
• How do teacher educators consider the SDGs in their teaching?

The rationale of the project is the assumption that an expansion of the critical mass of teacher educators who contribute to knowledge development relating to the Sustainable Development Goals as part of global teacher education, can serve as a key strategy to accelerate the achievement of the global goals as presented in Agenda 2030.

The study adopts a mixed-methods research methodology (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2017). It utilises a combination of qualitative with semi-structured interviews as well as quantitative data collection instruments such as questionnaires. The two data collection strategies complement each other in terms of achieving the research objective to get insights into teacher educators professional understanding towards the SDGs. In order to collect data on perceptions, constructs, beliefs and practices on and in the context of the SDGs, 10 qualitative in-depth and semi-structured interviews with teacher educators in Austria and South Africa will be conducted (Aschermann et al., 1991). The focus is on the thoughts and concepts of the individually interviewed participants and their awareness as well as their actions in the classroom settings. The data collected is evaluated by using grounded theory. The qualitative-reconstructive research method and the grounded theory evaluation method ideally complement each other due to the common goal of the hypothesis-generating procedure of the research process (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). With the quantitative method (Maree & Pietersen, 2019), a larger sample focus than the Austrian and South African population and a more international perspective can be achieved. Here around 200 teacher educators worldwide will be part of the research. The subsequent qualitative research method makes it possible to go in depth and examine individuals in terms of their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. The questionnaire will be piloted with a group of teacher educators, and checked for validity and reliability (Maree & Pietersen, 2019). Snowball sampling (Naderifar, Goli & Ghaljaei, 2017) will be used by activating the existing network of teacher educators in the project. The quantitative data will be analysed by identifying trends, patterns and correlations through descriptive and inferential statistics (Maree & Pietersen, 2019).

The project commenced in October 2023. The quantitative and qualitative data for data collection will start in February 2024. The paper will therefore report on the first initial results and findings emanating from the data collection. It is assumed within the study that professional understanding depends on personal understanding. At the moment knowledge creation in this specific field is limited and the study seeks to contribute to understandings of common patterns and socio-demographic differences and similarities between teacher educators in diverse contexts. Previous work within the research group have indicated teacher trainers have a wide range of knowledge about sustainability, but limited knowledge about the SDGs specifically. Concomitantly, the research group identified a certain degree of uncertainty about the role and tasks of teacher trainers in the area of sustainability.. Nevertheless, teacher educators have a substantive influence on students' knowledge and attitudes, so sustainability awareness and explicit knowledge in this field are crucial to promote students ability for life long learning. Prospective teachers wield power over the future of education and the transmission of key skills and competences. Therefore, studying teacher educators’ understanding of their individual professionalisation and behaviour is of paramount importance.

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