The Relationship Between Prospective Classroom Teachers’ Perceived Mathematical Competence and Their Awareness of Sustainable Development: The Moderating Role of Gender and Year of Study

Preparing prospective teachers capable of addressing sustainable development challenges requires not only sustainable development awareness but also competencies that support evidence-based reasoning. However, empirical evidence regarding the relationship between perceived mathematical competence and sustainable development awareness remains limited. This study examined the relationship between prospective classroom teachers’ perceived mathematical competence and sustainable development awareness and investigated the moderating roles of gender and year of study. The study employed a cross-sectional research design with 341 prospective classroom teachers from four universities in Türkiye. Data were examined to determine the relationship between perceived mathematical competence and sustainable development awareness and to test the moderating roles of gender and year of study through moderation analysis. The findings revealed that perceived mathematical competence was positively and significantly associated with sustainable development awareness (r = 0.37, p < 0.001). Furthermore, gender significantly moderated this relationship (B = 0.56, p < 0.001, ΔR2 = 0.04), whereas year of study did not demonstrate a significant moderating effect (ΔR2 = 0.0045, p = 0.621). These findings indicate that prospective classroom teachers who perceive themselves as more mathematically competent also tend to report higher levels of sustainable development awareness. The study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the association between perceived mathematical competence and sustainable development awareness and highlights the potential relevance of perceived mathematical competence to education for sustainable development within teacher education programs.