Purpose The research aims to evaluate whether this educational approach is being implemented in a Portuguese public university and looking for explicit references to education for sustainable development (ESD) in the online descriptions of course units (CU). Design/methodology/approach The research design adopted for this qualitative research follows the principles of a case study with exploratory, multiple and collective features. Findings It was possible to find direct matches with key ESD expressions in fifteen of CU. In addition, nine CU were identified in the second stage of analysis of the teacher training master programmes. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this study which the authors identified, and which was responsible for considerably reducing the probability of finding matches, was that only results in which the key expressions appeared in the description of the CU in exactly the same form as in the research instrument were recorded. Practical implications The need for an educational programme for teachers to be developed and implemented in the near future. Social implications A training workshop will be proposed with the main aim of supporting teaching staff in making the necessary shift in their pedagogical practices to include a ESD orientation in their CU. Originality/value The instrument eveloped that appears in Appendix - Analysis Tool with key ESD expressions.

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The curricular documents for Basic Education Sciences in Portuguese schools (ages 6 to 15) that currently affect teachers and students across the world integrate Sustainable Development concerns regarding soils. A sharp gap emerges between the official documents and the teachers’ perceptions of how to approach such issues. Urgent measures are required to bridge both worlds: reformulations of the official documents that guide teachers’ practices and educational resources focused on soils from a Sustainable Development perspective. A new organization of the curricular documents for this theme that aims to promote quality education among Portuguese Basic Education schools worldwide is proposed.