Summary:
The professional competencies pre-service geography teachers acquire in university influence
their contribution to education for sustainable development (ESD) in their future school
careers. We assessed pre-service geography teachers’ (n = 100) competencies and attitudes towards
the official, German ESD orientation framework to determine the specific need for higher education
action. The results are a high competence assessment and even higher importance assigned to the
ESD-related professional competencies. In the context of ESD, pre-service teachers are most confident
in their content knowledge and social and personal competencies and least confident in their pedagogical
knowledge. The cross-sectional analysis shows the perceived competence level rising with
the semester number and a strong positive influence of the school practice module.