Integrating Water Sustainability into Primary Science Education: Teachers Pedagogical Rationales, Opportunities, and Barriers

Water sustainability is a key global concern highlighted in SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). Integrating this topic into primary science education is strategic for fostering scientific literacy, environmental awareness, and responsible values from an early age. This study explores primary school teachers’ pedagogical perspectives on the importance of water sustainability, opportunities for integration, and perceived barriers to classroom implementation. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed using an open-ended online questionnaire completed by 141 primary school teachers across Indonesia. The data were analyzed thematically using NVivo. The findings reveal five rationales for integration: environmental awareness, science literacy, character and values education, alignment with the SDGs, and relevance to students’ daily lives. Teachers identified integration opportunities through science topics, environmentally themed learning, and project-based activities. However, teachers anticipated barriers including limited resources, low confidence, dense curriculum demands, time constraints, local environmental conditions, and challenges in selecting appropriate instructional methods. The novelty of this study lies in examining primary school teachers’ pedagogical reasoning regarding water sustainability and identifying opportunities and barriers to its integration into science learning. The findings suggest that the integration of water sustainability is influenced by curriculum demands, teacher preparedness, available resources, and local environmental conditions. This study contributes to sustainability education research by providing insights into how sustainability goals are interpreted and implemented in primary school contexts.