Professional Development and Teacher Research in Initial Teacher Education: Perceptions of Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers

Initial teacher education is increasingly expected to prepare pre-service teachers for ongoing professional development and teacher research, yet it remains unclear how systematically these competences are embedded in programmes and how prepared pre-service teachers feel. We used a mixed-methods design, combining a content analysis of 47 teacher education programmes at the University of Ljubljana with two cross-sectional surveys involving 443 pre-service (303 enrolled in first-cycle programmes and 140 in second-cycle programmes) and 138 in-service teachers. Programme documents frequently referenced professional development and research; however, research was more often stated as a competence outcome than as an explicit programme goal. In the surveys, pre-service teachers rated teaching competences highly, whereas perceived current competence was lower for professional development and lowest for teacher research, particularly for active research engagement. Across all items, pre-service teachers reported substantial gaps between current and required competence. Perceived current competence increased with study stage, while required competence varied less by stage. Required competence ratings were largely aligned between pre-service and in-service teachers, although pre-service teachers assigned higher ratings to selected research engagement items. The findings indicate a misalignment between curricular emphasis and perceived preparedness, and support stronger integration of practice-embedded professional learning and inquiry across coursework.