Professionalizing Teacher Educators for Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT Teacher educators play a pivotal role in advancing sustainable futures by shaping the professional practices of teachers. Within the framework of the United Nations' Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), their understandings of professionalism are therefore of particular significance. Despite growing scholarly attention to teacher educator professionalism, there is still little empirical insight into how teacher educators conceptualize their professionalization in relation to the SDGs. This study explores how teacher educators understand their professionalism in the context of Agenda 2030 and identifies conditions that support SDG‐related professional learning. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with teacher educators in Austria and South Africa and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings conceptualize teacher educator professionalism as a multifaceted and dynamic process shaped by the interaction of knowledge, research, curriculum design, didactic skills, reflection, wellbeing, and collective development. Beyond individual competencies, professional contexts and institutional conditions emerge as decisive for sustainability‐oriented professional development.