The primary purpose of this study was to investigate challenges in teaching practice from pre-service teachers’ perspectives. To achieve this purpose, a valid and reliable questionnaire with two domains was developed as follows: school and management; and design and implementation of lessons. A random sample of 128 senior students who attended the student training program was chosen as the unit of analysis. Results of the study indicated that challenges related to school and management were high primarily in the following two areas: large number of students in the classroom followed by school principals not interested in accepting pre-service teachers in their schools. With regard to the design and implementation of lessons, challenges were high in the following three areas: teaching competence requirements were not clear during teaching practice followed by the fact that pre-service teachers do not know laws or regulations related to teaching practice and finally inadequacy of the training period related to design and implementation of lessons. Significant differences were not detected based on gender and specialization. Finally, the study provided a number of recommendations for the field of study.

Research shows that teachers’ perceptions of peer bullying (PB) are an important predictor of their intervention. Therefore, the aims of the study were to find out i) how serious pre-service teachers and teachers find different types of PB, ii) how empathic to the victims and willing to intervene they are, iii) what predicts interventions in both groups and iv) what forms of intervention pre-service teachers and teachers would use regarding victims and perpetrators. Results suggest that teachers perceive all types of PB as more severe than pre-service teachers and are more willing to intervene earlier, but pre-service teachers show more empathy for the victims. The strongest predictor of intervention in both groups is beliefs about the severity of bullying, but their forms of intervention differ significantly. Implications of the study findings are also discussed.

The purpose of the present research was to examine the effect of peer review on educational research efficacy of pre-service teachers. A quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group was adopted, over a period of 12 weeks using peer review process in the experimental group and lecture-based teaching in the control group. The participants of the research consisted of pre-service teachers (n = 118), enrolled in the faculty of education of a middle scale public university in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. In collection of the data, “Self-Efficacy for Research Scale of Teachers” (SCRT), was used to examine pre-service teachers’ efficacy in educational research. According to the results, it was revealed that the experimental group in which the peer review process was conducted outperformed in the efficacy in educational research, compared to the control group. This result showed that peer review was more effective in the improvement of efficacy of pre-service teachers in educational research than the lecture-based teaching.

Most pre-service teachers work individually in preparing their teaching and learning activities and rarely work closely with others. The purpose of this research was to investigate pre-service teacher pedagogical knowledge through lesson study. Data were collected with the use of an interview and observation. Qualitative data were analyzed in four stages: organizing data, exploring and sorting data, descriptive analysis, invention interpretation, and validation. Results indicated that lesson study enhanced pedagogical knowledge of the pre-service teacher in planning, preparation, teaching strategies, problem-solving, classroom management, questioning skills, and assessment. Lesson study enhanced the pre-service teacher’s experience by comprehensively focusing on all facets of school in learning and teaching settings offering learning experiences.

The aim of this study was to obtain information on pre-service teachers’ experiences and viewpoints on science journals and journal writing. The current study utilized a qualitative research method, namely phenomenography. The data were collected by conducting face to face semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the verbatim transcripts of pre-service teachers’ interviews was performed with the use of the phenomenographic method. The findings are presented as themes, subthemes and categories. The participants in the study commented on the content of science journals, usefulness of journal writing in science courses and using science journals in primary education based on their observations during the practical activities at schools.

Education for pre-service teachers should focus on developing the competencies necessary to understand and practice learners’ cognitive and emotional characteristics. In this study, after applying the competency programme for understanding and guiding students with learning difficulties to pre-service teachers, the effects of the programme on teacher efficacy, teaching passion, and empathy were verified. As a result, it was found that participating in the experimental group to which the competency programme was applied was more effective than the control group in enhancing teacher efficacy, teaching passion, and empathy of pre-service teachers, and discussion and suggestions were provided.

The level of preparation of teachers before they enter the profession is an important factor affecting the level of culture of future generations and, consequently, the society as a whole. This preparation requires not only the proper implementation of the curriculum, but also the acquisition of self-efficacy skills. So far, the self-efficacy of pre-service teachers has been studied with respect to different variables. However, there is a lack of satisfactory comparative research among students from Poland and Slovakia, the countries of slightly different approach to preparation of pre-service teachers. To fill this gap, a comparative study of 355 Polish and 198 Slovakian university students was conducted using Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. The purpose of the research was to determine which variables, including the country (Poland, Slovakia), course, form, year of study and participation in the field experience correlate significantly with the sense of efficacy of pre-service teachers. The obtained results indicate a satisfactory consistency between the Polish and the Slovakian version of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. The research revealed a significantly higher self-evaluation among Polish university students and students of early childhood education. Part-time students with field experience evaluated themselves higher than full time students. The results emphasize that it is important to place high demands on future teachers and create appropriate conditions to improve their teaching and self-evaluative abilities.

The main purpose of this study is to explore the predictive ability of mindful attention awareness towards cognitive flexibility among pre-service teachers. A descriptive survey approach was employed. The purposive sample method is employed to collect data from 100 pre-service teachers pursuing a Bachelor of Education from the public university of Kurukshetra. The Cognitive Flexibility Inventory by Denis and Vander (2010) and the Mindful Attention Awareness scale by Brown and Ryan were used for data collection. Statistical analysis indicated (i) mindful attention awareness is significantly and positively correlated with cognitive flexibility (ii) mindful attention awareness explains 30.6% of the cognitive flexibility among pre-service teachers. Education implications are further discussed.

It is important to understand information and communication technology (ICT) and digital resources in classroom teaching and learning processes. Pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards ICT and digital resources in teaching and learning processes are important for positive attitudes in students towards these tools. The study employs a mixed methods study targeted teachers who have completed their internship training to understand the knowledge, attitude and usage of ICT and digital resources tries to find a correlation between these three facets. It employs a questionnaire with validated tools for measuring attitude, knowledge and usage of ICT and Digital Resources and the results are tabulated. Using statistical analysis of mean and standard deviation, the study affirms a positive correlation between Knowledge, attitude and usage of ICT and Digital Resources by Pre-Service teachers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of the pre-service teachers toward the use of the computer in mathematics classrooms. This study was conducted with 378 Turkish pre-service teachers (195 pre-service elementary school (PES) teachers, 183-pre-service mathematics (PM) teachers). Data were collected with an “Information Form for Computer Use” and a “Computer Attitude Scale for Teaching Mathematics” (CASTM). Th e CASTM consisted of fifteen 5-Likert scale type items and had 3 sub-factors. After the collection of quantitative data, the researchers used descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test in the analysis of the data. Results showed that there was a significant difference in the pre-service teacher’ attitudes and confidence towards the CASTM in terms of gender. It was also determined that the PM teachers’ attitudes and their confidence towards the computer were significantly higher than the PES teachers.