There is a persistent debate on the meaning of management and leadership, as it is assumed that people in management positions are leaders, but not all managers lead (Bush, 2020). The truth is that management and leadership are distinct but entirely complementary actions. While leadership is concerned with managing change and nurturing shared vision, management deals with complexity and advocates for stability and preserving established routines (Leal-Filho et al., 2020; Mogren et al., 2019) (e.g. it is concerned with organisation and staffing).

Leadership for sustainability refers to the processes that leaders, policymakers and academics undertake to implement sustainable development policies and other initiatives within their organisations. It, therefore, encompasses systemic approaches, methods and solutions to solve problems and drive institutional policy towards a more sustainable organisation. In leadership for sustainable development, the aim is to create current and future benefits while improving the lives of stakeholders (Verhelst et al., 2023; Broman et al., 2017).

Academia has identified the importance of leadership of management teams in education for successfully implementing the 2030 Agenda (Kuzmina et al., 2020; Mogren & Gericke, 2019; Persaud & Murphy, 2019). Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education depends critically on their knowledge and skills (Abidin et al., 2023). It is, therefore, a priority that the people who are part of these teams have a deep understanding of sustainability. However, research on this specific training of school leadership teams has not received much attention.

The breadth of the SDGs, their targets and indicators, as well as the lack of specificity and clarity in the definition of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), continue to deter school leaders from understanding and implementing this pedagogical approach in schools (Hadjichambis et al., 2020; Rieckmann, 2017). Mahat et al. (2016) attribute this lack of interest of these school leaders to their low level of knowledge about the SDGs and ESD. Fullan (2005) also recognised the complexity of being a sustainable leader and identified some attributes needed for sustainable leadership, including persistence, knowledge of sustainability, emotional intelligence, receptiveness to new visions and concepts, commitment to working collaboratively and the ability to transform the school. In addition, Müller et al. (2022) highlight the communication skills, change management, and in-depth knowledge of the staff working at the centre. Abidin et al. (2023) point to the importance of lifelong learning and optimising the use of resources.

Against this background, leadership training on the SDGs and ESD should not only be based on educational legislation, as has been the case so far but on how to transform schools and the lives of children and young people. The issues facing Europe and the world today call for more pragmatic, realistic leadership that addresses local and global challenges. Knowing and understanding the training needs of management teams could offer alternatives to effectively manage and implement ESD in the initial training of future teachers and their professional development. Based on this framework, the following research question is posed:

• What knowledge do the leadership teams have about the SDGs?
• What kind of specific training have the management teams received?

In order to address these questions, the study has the following objectives:

• To analyse school management teams' knowledge of the SDGs.
• To identify the type of training school management teams have received on the SDGs.

In order to achieve the objectives set out, a quantitative methodological approach was adopted, and an exploratory-descriptive study was carried out. The sample was configured using non-probabilistic purposive sampling. Specifically, 152 members of the management teams of public pre-schools and primary schools in Alicante (Spain) participated in the study. Of these, 69.7% were women. About age, 81.5% were between 35 and 56, and there were no participants under 24 years of age. Regarding their education, 48% had a Diploma, 25% had a Bachelor's Degree, 15.1% had a Master's Degree, and only four participants (2.6%) had a Doctorate. Regarding years of experience, 41.4% were between 11 and 20 years old, and 40.1% were between 21 and 30. Only 9.9% had between 31 and 40 years of experience and 8.6% between 0 and 10 years. Most of the participants (83.3%) belonged to public schools. The instrument used for data collection was the Questionnaire on Educational Leadership for Sustainable Development (CLEDS). It consisted of 13 questions, which revolved around the following dimensions: 1. Training of management teams for the integration of the SDGs in schools, 2. Training needs and preferences of school leaders about the SDGs, 3. Strategies and actions developed to promote the achievement of the SDGs and 4. Proposals to promote the action of management teams. This study analysed the first dimension (training of school leadership teams). It consisted of (1) an assessment of the degree of knowledge of school leadership teams about the SDGs (eight items), (2) the agents responsible for this training (eight items), and (3) the nature of the training (theoretical, practical or theoretical-practical). Responses were constructed on a Likert scale, from 1=strongly disagree to agree 5=strongly. The research team members initially contacted the schools by telephone to explain the study's objectives to the school management. After obtaining their consent to participate in the study, the questionnaire designed in Google Forms was sent out. The estimated response time was 15-20 minutes. The results were analysed using simple descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS v. 26 software.

The main findings show that 68.4% of the education leaders knew by when (what date) the SDGs are set to be achieved (X̅=4.43), and 67.1% of them indicated that they knew the meaning of the SDGs (X̅=4.45). On the other hand, 47% said they knew the background of the SDGs (X̅=3.38), and 46.7% indicated that they knew the number of SDGs that exist (X̅=4.01). 39.5% indicated that they were able to recognise the issues that the SDGs are about (X̅=4.02), and the same percentage of participants indicated that they could explain their purpose (X̅=3.94), followed by 38.2% who felt able to propose a definition of the SDGs (X̅=3.63). On the other hand, it is noteworthy that 46.7% stated that they had yet to receive training on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Regarding the type of training received, 66.3% of participants stated that they had taken training courses offered by the Training and Educational Resources Centre of the Valencian Community (Spain), 46.1% stated that they had self-trained using bibliographic material, social networks and the media, and 30.3% stated that they had received peer-to-peer training in their educational institution. Regarding the nature of this training, 61.4% stated that it was theoretical-practical and 33.7% that it was eminently theoretical. Based on the analysis of the findings, the training of management teams is still insufficient, as more than half of the participants in the study had fundamental and scarce knowledge of the SDGs. In addition, a considerable group of academic leaders have yet to have access to in-depth training. Bearing that the lack of specific training is a barrier to implementing Education for Sustainable Development in schools (Abidin et al., 2023), educational administrations and universities must promote training programmes aimed at training management teams to exercise leadership for sustainable development.

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