Pre-service teachers and climate change education: a belief-intention gap yet to be bridged

Prior research suggests that pre-service teachers may avoid providing climate change education (CCE) due to believed controversies, lack of competences, or resource constraints. However, quantitative studies disentangling the interplay between a broad spectrum of such beliefs, possible influences on beliefs as well as their connection to teaching intention remain scarce. Building on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, we therefore conducted an Austrian-wide, cross-sectional online study with 403 pre-service Biology teachers for secondary level, using both established and newly adapted instruments. Via structural equation modelling, our study reveals that pre-service teachers' belief in the importance of CCE and their climate change attitudes emerged as main predictors for their teaching intention. Content knowledge and belief in having sufficient time and resources, also contributed, while the predictive strength of self-efficacy varied across models. Surprisingly, concerns about controversies and normative beliefs were unrelated to teaching intention, diverging from previous research. These findings suggest that future teachers' intention to teach climate change is primarily rooted in a sense of urgency about the climate crisis and the belief in the meaningfulness of education, alongside practical considerations of classroom realities, rather than fears of political controversy. Implications for the design of teacher training programs are outlined.