The place and importance of sustainable develeopment education in teacher training

The concept of sustainable development has been defined as a form of development that will meet the needs of the present generations without compromising the needs of future generations. Sustainable development education, whose importance is increasing day by day, has started to take place in the curricula. The fact that teachers, who are the most important actors of education, have knowledge, skills and attitudes related to sustainable development education is an important goal, which is pointed out by UNESCO as well. With this research, it is aimed to reveal the place and importance of sustainable development education in teacher education in the light of expert academicians' opinions and literature and to contribute to the field. The research was designed in the phenomenology pattern within the scope of the qualitative research method. The study group of the research consists of academicians who have researches in the field of sustainable development education. Semi-structured interview forms were used to obtain data from the researchers. In the analysis of the data, the MAXQDA 2020 program was employed. The obtained data were subjected to content analysis through thick descriptions. According to the results which were obtained from the study, the participants stated that the depletion of natural resources has increased the importance of sustainable development education, and the awareness of sustainable development will increase, especially through education. In addition, they stated that sustainable development education is not fully reflected in teacher education curricula, and that especially in teacher education, practical courses focused on sustainable development should be included in the curriculum. The study was concluded with suggestions to researchers, educators and education administrators.