Examining Qatar’s private and public-school teachers’ readiness for teaching about sustainability

Abstract

Understanding teacher readiness for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) instruction is crucial. This study investigated Qatar’s preparatory and secondary public and private school teachers’ perceived readiness to teach Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) across three dimensions: alignment, capabilities and engagement. Although all teachers surveyed (N = 965) self-reported high readiness rates (∼80%), important differences emerged between private and public school teachers. Private school teachers reported more alignment, enhanced capabilities and increased engagement with ESD/GCED than public school teachers. GCED themes were taught more frequently than ESD themes for both school systems. Detailed discussion regarding these results is provided.