Search Results (864)

This study examines pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching real-world problems and mathematical modelling. Using a quantitative design, it investigates variation in self-efficacy between primary and special education pre-service teachers across different competence facets. The findings reveal a differentiated, domain-specific pattern of self-efficacy rather than uniform differences between groups. Special education pre-service teachers reported higher self-efficacy in pedagogical content knowledge and task design and differentiation, whereas no significant differences emerged for situation-specific skills and instructional design and enactment. The study contributes to a more differentiated understanding of modelling-related self-efficacy by showing that domain specificity may also operate within a specific area of mathematics teaching. It highlights the relevance of considering different competence facets in teacher education for inclusive mathematics classrooms. Full article

While most research on biographical narratives has concentrated on the analysis of the final textual product as a means of understanding the narrative, the present study explores the underlying processes of narrative construction and presentation within peer groups in a teacher education college, drawing on the narrators’ own reflections and accounts. Employing on a qualitative grounded theory design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 current and former special education college students. Participants reflected on the deliberative and interpretive processes, shaping both disclosure decisions and modes of self-presentation. Findings indicate that peer groups constitute a significant force in narrative co-construction. Boundaries of disclosure and degrees of vulnerability were continuously negotiated, through engagement with others’ narratives. Participants employed various narrative strategies, including redemption and normalization frameworks, in order to sustain a coherent and resilient professional self-concept. A key theoretical contribution of the study is the conceptualization of emotional regulation, as an integral component of narrative construction. Participants actively modulated the emotional intensity of their storytelling. Overall, the study suggests that Biographical Narrative practices function as a collaborative and meaning-making process that supports reflective capacity, peer-based scaffolding and resilience, thereby contributing to teacher well-being and professional identity development, in preservice education contexts. Full article

Preparing future educators for technology-enhanced learning environments has become increasingly important as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to influence teaching and learning. Guided by the Intelligent Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (i-TPACK) framework, this mixed-methods study examined preservice teachers’ perceptions of AI and the competencies they considered necessary for effective AI integration. Participants included 108 preservice teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a public university in the southeastern United States. Data were collected using a survey containing Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and independent-samples t-tests, while qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic coding. The exploratory factor analysis identified a four-factor empirical structure that partially corresponded with the original theoretical domains, with varying levels of internal consistency. Preservice teachers generally viewed AI favorably and recognized its potential to support teaching and learning. Participants with internship experience reported significantly higher scores for perceived changes brought by AI and reasons for using AI than those without internship experience. Qualitative findings identified five competencies considered important for responsible AI integration: AI literacy, prompt engineering, critical evaluation, ethical AI use, and pedagogical balance. Participants also expressed concerns about academic dishonesty, misinformation, overreliance on AI, reduced critical thinking, and loss of human interaction. The findings highlight the importance of preparing preservice teachers to integrate AI in pedagogically meaningful and ethically responsible ways. Full article

Pre-service mathematics teachers engage with AI as both geometry learners and future teachers, yet domain-specific instruments for measuring this usage remain scarce. This study developed and validated the AI Usage in Geometry Learning Scale (AIGLS) and compared usage between two Indonesian teacher-education institutions. A comparative survey covered 178 pre-service mathematics teachers at Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM, n = 89) and Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ, n = 89). The AIGLS operationalises five dimensions: Conceptual Understanding Support, Problem-Solving Assistance, Geometric Visualisation, Pedagogical Readiness, and Critical Evaluation of AI. A ten-expert panel established content validity (CVI = 0.976). Item analysis excluded all five negatively worded items; all analyses therefore used the final 20-item scale, which showed good full-scale (Cronbach’s α = 0.873) and subscale (α = 0.591–0.810) reliability. ChatGPT was the dominant tool (96.6%), and UNM reported significantly higher usage intensity than UNJ (χ²(4) = 27.917, p < 0.001). Mann–Whitney U tests with Bonferroni correction confirmed UNM scored higher overall (U = 4749.5, p = 0.022, r_rb = −0.20), with Geometric Visualisation showing the largest institutional gap (r_rb = −0.38, medium effect). The validated AIGLS supports measuring AI usage in geometry teacher preparation and informs AI-literacy policy. Full article

This study examines how supportive university environment (SUE), faculty competence (COMP), employability skills development (ESD), and financial confidence (FC) shape pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) financial well-being (FWB) and perceived university academic reputation (REP). Drawing on social cognitive theory, human capital logic, and signaling perspectives, this study develops and tests a PLS-SEM model using survey data from 1225 pre-service teachers in Egypt and Kuwait, with ESD and FC operating as key mechanisms linking institutional and instructional factors to student and reputation-related outcomes. The findings show that SUE positively predicts FC and ESD, while COMP enhances ESD. ESD, in turn, positively influences FC, FWB, and REP, and FC further improves FWB. Mediation analysis indicates that ESD and FC explain the indirect effects of SUE and COMP on FWB, while ESD mediates their effects on REP. Cross-country analysis suggests that the model is broadly stable across Egypt and Kuwait. The findings suggest that teacher education institutions should integrate employability-oriented learning, financial confidence-building activities, and faculty-supported career preparation to enhance PSTs’ financial well-being and strengthen perceived academic reputation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Psychological well-being is an important indicator of occupational mental health among special education teachers, as it is closely associated with work engagement, professional performance, and attitudes toward students with disabilities. Despite its importance, limited research has examined factors associated with psychological well-being among special education teachers in Arab contexts. Therefore, this study examined the level of psychological well-being among special education teachers and investigated the relative contributions of mindfulness and empathy. In addition, the study tested the mediating role of empathy in the relationship between mindfulness and psychological well-being. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative predictive correlational design was employed with a sample of 259 special education teachers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using an Arabic-adapted version of Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale, the short form of the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the Empathy Scale for Teachers. Path analysis was conducted to test a partial mediation model examining the mediating role of empathy in the relationship between mindfulness and psychological well-being. Results: The findings indicated high levels of psychological well-being among special education teachers. Mindfulness and empathy accounted for significant variance in psychological well-being, and path analysis showed that empathy partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and psychological well-being. Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential importance of mindfulness and empathy in relation to the psychological well-being of special education teachers and suggest the value of giving greater attention to these dimensions in pre-service preparation and ongoing professional support programs. The study also contributes context-specific evidence from Saudi Arabia to the literature on teacher well-being in special education. Full article

The high rate of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is changing how teachers teach, how they are trained, and how institutions are managed. While many studies explore the use of AI in teaching and learning, there is a lack of research on how it supports capacity building for special education pre-service teachers in rural South African universities. This review examines existing studies on how AI can develop skills and knowledge in pre-service teacher education for inclusive teaching. Using the AI-Capacity-Content Interaction Model and a structured scoping review method, relevant peer-reviewed studies were selected from major academic databases. The findings reveal that AI supports capacity building through improved teaching methods, the use of data for decision-making, hands-on learning, and collaboration. It also helps teachers address diverse learner needs. However, the study also identifies key challenges in rural universities, such as limited infrastructure, lack of resources, weak policy support, digital inequality, and insufficient training for lecturers. These barriers limit the effective use of AI in teacher education. The study highlights the need for better digital infrastructure, ongoing professional development for pre-service teachers, and policies that consider local contexts. These steps are important for ensuring fair access to AI and improving teacher education in rural areas. Full article

In contexts of growing social polarisation and cultural complexity, tertiary educators are increasingly called upon to move beyond celebratory multiculturalism towards critically informed intercultural praxis in preparing students for 21st-century classrooms. Drawing on a sustained transnational collaboration between Australia and Spain within initial teacher education, this paper adopts a collaborative autoethnographic approach to critically reflect on our pedagogical practices and their implications for culturally responsive music education. We examine how intercultural musical encounters, particularly those involving culture bearers, can foster cultural competence and critical reflection among pre-service teachers, while also generating tensions related to knowledge, cultural ownership, authenticity, and appropriation. Building on these reflections, we reconceptualise authenticity as a relational and dialogic process, co-constructed through interaction, mediation, and context-sensitive engagement. We propose a conceptual framework grounded in three interrelated dimensions: collaborative partnerships, relational authenticity, and dialogic mediation through educator facilitation. Together, these principles offer an ethically informed and pedagogically grounded approach to intercultural music education that moves beyond representation towards sustained, meaningful engagement with cultural diversity. By foregrounding the role of the educator as a cultural mediator and drawing on insights generated through sustained intercultural practice and prior research, this paper contributes to ongoing debates on belonging, inclusion, and the development of culturally responsive practices in contemporary music teacher education. Full article

This study investigates how pre-service primary education teachers (PSTs) develop geometric thinking when exposed to an instructional approach based on van Hiele’s theory. Ninety undergraduate students were divided into experimental and control groups and were assessed before and after a semester of Euclidean geometry instruction. Using mixed-methods analysis, the study examined participants’ initial levels of geometric thinking, their progression over time, and the comparative impact of traditional and van Hiele-based instruction. Both groups began with similarly limited geometric understanding and showed improvement, yet only the experimental group achieved statistically significant gains. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of van Hiele-based instruction in strengthening conceptual understanding and supporting PSTs’ transition from procedural school mathematics to the deductive structure of university geometry. By structuring learning through van Hiele’s levels of thinking and five phases of learning, the instructional approach provided accessible entry points, systematic scaffolding, and opportunities for building coherent conceptual networks. The results suggest that integrating van Hiele-informed approaches into tertiary mathematics courses can support the development of robust geometric thinking and better prepare PSTs for future teaching of geometry. Full article

This study explores the behavioral intersection of nutritional health and environmental literacy among pre-service teachers within the national higher education context. Utilizing the Sustainable Healthy Diet Index (SHED Index) for the first time in Croatia, this research systematically examines the dietary habits, lifestyle choices, and socio-cultural patterns of future educators (N = 164) at the University of Split. The survey instrument evaluated the core SHED domains, Healthy Eating (HE) and Sustainable Eating (SE), alongside supplementary indicators monitoring food logistics, hydration, and waste management. Descriptive analysis revealed moderately high standardized overall SHED scores (M = 62.86), aligning with the original normative distribution. Notably, students achieved significantly higher descriptive sub-scores in the HE domain (M = 24.68) than in the SE domain (M = 18.06). Although domestic food consumption and circular recycling practices were well integrated, critical biospheric behaviors—such as reducing animal protein, consuming legumes, purchasing organic food, and composting—remain limited by cultural resistance and municipal infrastructure deficits. Furthermore, an independent t-test indicated no significant differentiation across study levels, highlighting a potential institutional stagnation throughout the five-year teacher education program. Regression analysis demonstrated that sustainable dietary choices appear to be strongly anchored in personal health concerns rather than biospheric altruism, with healthy eating emerging as the single strongest explanatory factor for of sustainable behavior. These findings indicate that to cultivate authentic ecological literacy in the future teaching workforce, higher education curricula require a systemic redesign that explicitly links sustainability to personal well-being through localized, experiential learning. Full article

Training educators to integrate sustainability into their practice is crucial for the 2030 Agenda. This article presents a mixed-method design to explore perceived changes in sustainability-oriented professional identity among pre-service primary teachers following a Service-Learning intervention. The design combines an instrumental case study with convergent mixed methods and a qualitative emphasis. Core instruments include reflective diaries structured around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and a 10-item questionnaire on perceived competence development. Participants were 37 pre-service primary teachers in their fourth year of study. Inductive thematic analysis of the diaries revealed a shift from a teacher identity centred on content transmission towards one focused on facilitating experiential learning and acting as a community agent. Descriptive analysis showed mean scores between 3.59 and 4.51, with significant differences from the scale’s neutral point (p < 0.001). Methodological triangulation evidenced a gap between high endorsement of the community role (M = 4.30) and lower self-efficacy in collaboration strategies (M = 3.62) and in addressing complexity (M = 3.59). The article suggests that this design offers a promising framework that may be transferable to similar teacher education contexts, potentially providing a useful tool for operationalising Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 assessment in higher education. Its strengths, limitations, and transferability potential are discussed. Full article

This study investigated how pre-service teachers’ frequency of artificial intelligence (AI) tool use is associated with their perceived workload and perceived task performance in AI-supported pedagogical design tasks, grounded in mental workload theory. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, data were collected online from 464 pre-service teachers through a structured questionnaire covering AI use profiles, purposes of AI use, perceived usefulness of AI functionalities, and NASA-TLX-based workload ratings. Perceived workload was assessed using the raw NASA-TLX after participants completed an AI-supported lesson planning task involving the design of an instructional activity and teaching materials. Descriptive findings showed that AI use was widespread, with most participants reporting weekly or daily engagement. One-way ANOVA results indicated significant differences across AI use-frequency groups on all NASA-TLX dimensions. Infrequent users reported higher mental demand, temporal demand, effort, and frustration, as well as lower perceived task performance. However, polynomial trend analyses showed that the association was not strictly linear across all dimensions. Some workload dimensions were lowest among occasional users, whereas frustration decreased and perceived task performance increased as AI use frequency increased. These findings suggest that the workload implications of AI engagement may vary depending on the specific dimension of task demand considered. Full article

This study examined how educational robotics and machine learning activities contributed to the understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) among elementary school students, pre-service teachers, and practicing teachers. The intervention involved 1207 participants, including 1009 fifth-grade students, 93 practicing elementary school teachers, and 105 pre-service teachers. Participants engaged in a series of structured activities focused on educational robotics, visual block-based programming, and machine learning concepts. A pre-experimental design was employed to assess changes in understanding and to explore participants’ perceptions of the learning experience. Statistical analyses included Student’s t-tests, the Kruskal–Wallis H test, and Bonferroni-corrected post hoc comparisons. Results indicated pre–post gains in elementary school students’ understanding of machine learning, AI modeling processes, and fundamental computational concepts following participation in the intervention. Across the three groups, participants reported positive perceptions of the activities and recognized their value for learning about AI. Elementary school students reported higher motivation and stronger engagement in coding-related tasks, likely reflecting their previous experience with Scratch in school settings. Practicing teachers expressed a more interdisciplinary perspective on the educational applications of AI, whereas pre-service teachers demonstrated stronger conceptual understanding of the underlying principles. Overall, the findings suggest that educational robotics and machine learning activities are associated with positive learning experiences and observed gains in AI-related understanding. However, given the pre-experimental design without a control group or random assignment, the results should be interpreted as evidence of observed changes and participant perceptions rather than demonstrated effectiveness. Full article

This study utilized an experimental single-case design to evaluate a professional development package to support educators’ implementation of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)-supported, play-based naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI), which we called naturalistic AAC intervention (N-AAC). Participants were three minimally speaking students with autism (4–8 years of age), each paired with one of their educators (i.e., speech-language pathologist, pre-service special education teacher, early childhood assistant teacher). The primary aim was to examine the effects of professional development on educator implementation of N-AAC. We also descriptively examined changes in students’ communication and language use during educator–child play and generalization to peer interactions. The findings showed that professional development was effective at teaching educators to implement N-AAC with fidelity. Student communication outcomes showed descriptive improvements following educator training and coaching and N-AAC implementation. However, as expected, gains did not generalize to peer interactions. The findings suggest that professional development improves educator implementation of AAC-supported NDBI strategies during play and that their increased implementation fidelity is accompanied by promising descriptive changes in student communication. Future research is needed to further examine the impact on student communication, promote generalization to peer interactions, and evaluate the potential for larger-scale implementation. Full article

Simulation-based learning (SBL) is recognized as a transformative methodology in teacher education, yet the social–emotional processes through which pre- and in-service teachers navigate role dissonance remain underexplored. Drawing on the Social–Emotional Learning (SEL) framework proposed by CASEL, this study conceptualizes simulation as a cyclical SEL loop across three phases, pre-briefing, simulation, and debriefing, each activating distinct competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. This qualitative phenomenological inquiry examines the lived social–emotional experiences of pre- and in-service teachers participating in The School of Valtance, a large-scale, multi-role international simulation embedded in a postgraduate teacher qualification program. Participants from 9 international faculties were deliberately assigned to roles, such as pedagogue, head of studies, and parent, divergent from their professional backgrounds, generating the cognitive–emotional disruption known as the “valley of despair”. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and facilitator field notes across all three simulation phases and subjected to thematic analysis. The findings reveal that role dissonance disrupts participants’ emotional equilibrium, activating self-awareness and social awareness competencies that precede and enable metacognitive growth. The debriefing phase emerges as the space in which the SEL loop closes, as participants articulate and consolidate both the emotional turbulence and relational learning generated during the simulation, transforming affective experience into transferable social–emotional competence. These findings offer practical guidance for simulation designers seeking to embed SEL intentionally across all phases of the pedagogical cycle in intercultural teacher training contexts. Full article