Professional Identity and Education for Sustainability: Exploring Perceived Change Following Service-Learning in Pre-Service Primary Teacher Education

Training educators to integrate sustainability into their practice is crucial for the 2030 Agenda. This article presents a mixed-method design to explore perceived changes in sustainability-oriented professional identity among pre-service primary teachers following a Service-Learning intervention. The design combines an instrumental case study with convergent mixed methods and a qualitative emphasis. Core instruments include reflective diaries structured around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and a 10-item questionnaire on perceived competence development. Participants were 37 pre-service primary teachers in their fourth year of study. Inductive thematic analysis of the diaries revealed a shift from a teacher identity centred on content transmission towards one focused on facilitating experiential learning and acting as a community agent. Descriptive analysis showed mean scores between 3.59 and 4.51, with significant differences from the scale’s neutral point (p < 0.001). Methodological triangulation evidenced a gap between high endorsement of the community role (M = 4.30) and lower self-efficacy in collaboration strategies (M = 3.62) and in addressing complexity (M = 3.59). The article suggests that this design offers a promising framework that may be transferable to similar teacher education contexts, potentially providing a useful tool for operationalising Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 assessment in higher education. Its strengths, limitations, and transferability potential are discussed.