Abstract
Based on empirical evidence, this study aimed to analyze the effect of transformational leadership on teachers' self-efficacy in ESD and test mediation effects in the relationship between transformational leadership and teachers' self-efficacy in ESD. To this end, researchers constructed nine hypotheses, predicting direct effects among variables, each single mediation effect of two mediators, and serial multiple mediation effect. The participants of the research consisted of 193 Korean in-service teachers. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. In addition, researchers applied serial mediation procedures with PROCESS Macro for SPSS to test specific mediate effects based on the bootstrap method. The the research, there were identified mechanisms through which the influence of the principal's transformational leadership on teachers' efficacy occurs in the context of ESD. The findings of the study were discussed in the light of relevant literature, and some suggestions were made for the future.
 Keywords:Education for Sustainable Development (ESD); Transformational leadership; Teachers’ self-efficacy in ESD; Teachers' attitude toward PD; Professional development; Serial Mediation Analysis
Highlights
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) emphasizes holistic, interdisciplinary, and learnercentered teaching that engages students in critical inquiries into fundamental issues of ecological preservation, social justice, and economic prosperity
ESD challenges the discipline-based dominant curriculum and teacher-centered pedagogical practices. If these challenges are to be confronted in schools, setting direction for school organizations related to ESD is needed
The authors conducted a descriptive analysis to examine the distribution of teachers' responses and carried out a Pearson correlation analysis to determine the relationships between research variables
Summary
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) emphasizes holistic, interdisciplinary, and learnercentered teaching that engages students in critical inquiries into fundamental issues of ecological preservation, social justice, and economic prosperity. Principals' transformational leadership practice has been identified as critical in creating successful school organizations (Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1998; Youngs & King, 2002). Plenty of empirical research studies support that transformational leadership can positively affect teachers' commitment, create school structures that foster participation in professional development ((Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1998; Youngs & King, 2002; Meister, 2010; Postholm, 2011) and raise teacher efficacy significantly There is a significantly positive relationship between teachers' attitudes and self-efficacy (Fang, Chung & Yun, 2021), and teachers' self-efficacy is a significant predictor of positive attitudes (Shin, 2013)
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