Exploring the Role of Teacher Self-Efficacy and Personal Environmental Practices in Integrating Sustainability into Their Teaching: A Network Analysis of German Teachers

The integration of sustainability and environmental conservation into school curricula has be-come increasingly important. Teachers are viewed as key actors in this process, often referred to as “change agents”. Many are not specifically prepared for Education for Sustainable Devel-opment (ESD), and there is considerable variation in how explicitly or implicitly teachers address such topics in their teaching. Knowledge on interpersonal factors shaping this variability is still scarce, along with insights into their nomological net. Against this background, this study ex-plores the relationships between teachers’ incorporation of sustainability in their lessons, their self-and action-efficacy, personal attitudes, eco-anxiety, private engagement, and knowledge, alongside perceived student interest and pressure, and school awareness. We surveyed 419 teachers from various school types in Germany (M = 45 years, SD = 10.9; 68% female; average teaching experience = 16 years, SD = 9.9) relying on established scales and a knowledge test. The results revealed significant differences in how frequently teachers incorporated sustainabil-ity into their teaching, which were not systematically related to school type, gender, or teacher training. Network analyses highlighted that self-efficacy and private engagement, rather than teachers’ knowledge, play a central role. Private engagement also showed high centrality indices and functioned as key bridge in the network, while high self-efficacy beliefs were particularly strongly tied to frequent ESD implementation in the classroom. We discuss how this points to both being two functionally different, but relevant points of interest for supporting teachers in incorporating sustainability in their lessons.