This empirical study examines the potential of a CBT-informed self-care curriculum as an approach to sustainable teacher education in the preparation of pre-service early childhood teachers. Rather than treating self-care as a peripheral or purely personal issue, the study conceptualizes it as part of the developmental foundation that may support future teachers’ health, professional efficacy, and long-term commitment to the profession. Within this framework, the study investigates the effects of a self-care curriculum on pre-service early childhood teachers’ self-care, perceived health, self-efficacy, and goal commitment. Participants were 268 pre-service early childhood teachers who completed pre- and post-intervention surveys. The curriculum drew on principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and integrated self-care lectures, cognitive restructuring, reflective writing, class discussion, and health-related knowledge learning. The results showed significant pre-post improvements in self-care, perceived health, and self-efficacy. Path analysis further indicated that self-care was positively associated with perceived health, self-efficacy, and goal commitment, and indirectly related to goal commitment through perceived health and self-efficacy. By linking self-care with both well-being-related and professional-development outcomes, this study contributes to the literature on sustainable teacher education in three ways. It positions self-care as a meaningful curricular concern in pre-service teacher preparation, applies a CBT-informed framework to early childhood teacher education, and provides empirical evidence that strengthening pre-service teachers’ internal resources may support more sustainable professional development before workforce entry. The findings suggest that structured self-care education may be a promising direction for fostering healthier, more efficacious, and more committed future teachers in early childhood education.

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