Sustainability education plays a pivotal role in driving change in the present and shaping our global future. This study explores the process of transformative learning among 67 preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a sustainability science course by analyzing six assignments submitted throughout the semester. Using a combined deductive–inductive coding procedure guided by transformative learning theory, our analyses document how PSTs looked inward (e.g., thinking, feeling), outward (e.g., making connections, relating to others), and forward (e.g., taking action) toward building a sustainable future. During the course, all PSTs experienced a disorienting dilemma, the foundation upon which transformative learning takes place. However, few PSTs demonstrated higher-level perspective transformation. When imagining alternative futures, PSTs drew on limited exposure to sustainability-oriented curricula and practices at internship sites, and perhaps as a consequence, most PSTs reflected foremost on their own lifestyles and consumer actions as primary areas for transformation. Moreover, PSTs rarely viewed themselves as potential agents of collective, policy-directed, or collaborative change. Importantly, it was uncommon for PSTs to reflect on their potential role as agents of change as educators who can cultivate sustainability within their classrooms and through their students. Returning to the inward-, outward-, and forward-looking framework, this paper closes with several recommendations for improving the transformative potential of teacher education—particularly towards preparing PSTs to recognize and actualize their potential to influence both what sustainability science content is taught, how these curricula are addressed, and their role in the classroom as agents of societal transformation toward sustainability.

可持续发展教育在推动当前变化和塑造我们的全球未来方面发挥着关键作用。这项研究通过分析整个学期提交的六个作业，探索了参加可持续发展科学课程的67名职前基础教师（PST）的变革性学习过程。通过使用基于转化学习理论的演绎-归纳编码组合程序，我们的分析记录了PST如何向内（例如，思维，感觉），向外（例如，建立联系，与他人联系）和向前（例如，采取行动）建立可持续的未来。在课程中，所有PST都经历了一个令人迷惑的困境，这是进行变革性学习的基础。但是，很少有PST表现出更高层次的视角转换。在设想替代期货时，PST在实习现场仅接触有限的可持续性课程和实践，因此，大多数PST首先将自己的生活方式和消费者行为作为变革的主要领域。此外，PST很少将自己视为集体，政策导向或协作式变革的潜在推动者。重要的是，PST反思自己作为变革推动者的潜在角色，作为教育者，可以在教室内和通过学生培养可持续性，这是很罕见的。回到内向，外向和前瞻性框架，本文最后提出了一些建议，以提高教师教育的变革潜力，特别是准备让PST认识并实现其对两者的影响教授了哪些可持续发展科学内容，如何解决这些课程，以及它们在课堂上作为社会向可持续发展转变的推动者的作用。