Sustainable Development (SD) is often considered as an integrated concept of three pillars: environmental, economic and social (Giddings, Hopwood & O’Brien, 2002). Accordingly, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) addresses sustainable development issues, which are not only environmental problems, but also social and economic ones (e.g., Corney & Reid, 2007). Rauch (2002) described what could be perceived as sustainable within each dimension. He identified environmental SD as the preservation of natural resources, which ensures the natural function of local eco-systems and of nature in general. He outlined social SD as solidarization and cooperation with other communities. Economic SD ensures quality of life through economic self-determination and selfdevelopment of both individuals and societies. The UN’s publication Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which, according to the agenda are “integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental (UN, 2015, para 2, 5, 18 & 55). In addition to this, many scholars in the field of ESD consider a holistic approach to the SD concept important (see, for example, Sandell, Öhman & Östman, 2005; Boeve-de Pauw, Gericke, Olsson & Berglund, 2015;). This study is an attempt to respond to the call in the final report of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), entitled Shaping the Future We Want. The final report raised the issue of monitoring ESD practice (UNESCO, 2014a). The focus of this study lies in initial teacher training programmes. Initial teacher education has an impact on ESD teaching at school (Nolet, 2013), partly because it influences teachers’ conceptions (Stodolsky, 1993). Trainee teachers can be seen as university students, who are future citizens and leaders (Collins, 2017; Lozano, 2006). Trainee teachers are those educating students in the near future. Student teachers’ understanding of sustainability is an important prerequisite for cultivating teachers’ skills in ESD (Firth & Winter, 2007; Hofman, 2012). However, student teachers and teachers do not hold a holistic understanding of SD (e.g., Birdsall, 2014). Initial teacher education may provide us with explanations for this. Student teachers’ learning is based on university-based sources of learning, such as academic literature, discussion sessions and other activities during the university courses, which are aimed at subject learning (Corney & Reid, 2007). Academics engaged in teacher training programmes (ETUCE, 2008) play an important role since they provide student teachers with learning experiences (European Commission, 2013). They influence student teachers through both how and what they teach (Loughran & Berry, 2005). They function implicitly, or not, as role models for trainee teachers (Lunenberg, Korthage & Swennen, 2007). As Loughran (1997) argued, teacher educators give student teachers the opportunity to understand and experience teaching.