An empirical study exploring pre-service teachers’ profiles and their prospective ICT integration: is it a matter of attitudes, self-efficacy, self-concept or concerns?

It is without a doubt that technology-related factors (e.g. access to technological resources and devices) (Tondeur et al., 2017) as well as teachers’ digital competences Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018) are considered significant and relevant elements associated to in-service and pre-service teachers’ integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in their teaching practice (Tiede et al., 2015). However, the meaningful integration of ICT in the classroom does not solely depend upon such factors. A variety of models have emphasized the importance of in-service and pre-service teachers’ affective-motivational factors on their use of ICT in classrooms (Jenßen et al., 2021). For instance, the ‘Will, Skill, Tool’ (WST) model incorporates affective-motivational variables such as attitudes and self-efficacy (Knezek & Christensen, 2016). Within the technology acceptance model, in-service and pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards ICT are also considered as essential factor for the decision and integration of ICT (Davis, 1989). Another example is Ertmer’s (1999) barriers to technology integration framework which identifies crucial factors that can either limit or foster teachers’ ICT implementation efforts: (a) external (first-order) variables, and (b) internal (second-order) variables. External variables are related to issues concerning access to technology, policy and training. However, even if these variables are present, “teachers do not automatically use technology to achieve advocated meaningful outcomes” (Ertmer, 1999, p. 51). As a result, it is necessary to take into consideration the impact of internal (second-order) variables on teachers’ ICT integration. Internal (second-order) barriers are teachers’ attitudes (Seufert et al., 2021), self-concept (Schweizer & Horn, 2014), self-efficacy (Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018) and concerns (Jogezai et al., 2018).

There is extensive evidence that has revealed that such internal variables play a key role in their pedagogical decisions regarding whether and how to integrate technology within their classroom practices (Petko, 2012; Seufert et al., 2021; Gil-Flores et al., 2017; Eickelmann, 2011; Hämäläinen et al., 2021; Tondeur et al., 2020; Pozas, 2021). Moreover, empirical studies have indicated that such variables are strong predictors of teachers’ ICT use integration (Krause et al., 2017; Seufert et al., 2021). Nevertheless, even though there is extensive research on such in-service and pre-service teachers’ attitudes, self-efficacy, self-concept and concerns regarding ICT, there is still little research on their interaction and their resulting impact on ICT integration (Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018).

Given the centrality and importance of internal variables, it appears meaningful and necessary to explore the interrelations between pre-service teachers’ internal variables and examine their link to their prospective ICT use in order to identify specific factors that can inform teacher training. Moreover, pre-service teacher training plays a crucial role in promoting the integration of ICT into classrooms (Botturi, 2019), thus it is of upmost importance to derive content for teacher training curricula from relevant scientific literature and research in order to ensure that pre-service teachers are specifically prepared for their prospective teaching profession (Tiede, 2020). Therefore, in this article, we explore the associations between pre- service teachers’ attitudes, self-concept, self-efficacy and concerns in using ICT for instructional purposes by means of cluster analyses. In the following sections, a description on the theoretical background as well as recent empirical findings are presented and followed by the research aims leading the study.

In-service and pre-service teachers’ internal variables such as ICT attitudes, self-efficacy, self-concept and concerns are crucial to a teachers’ teaching behaviour, such as the use ICT for teaching purposes (Ertmer, 1999; Krause et al., 2017; Seufert et al., 2021). However, despite the extensive research on teachers’ internal variables, there is still limited empirical research on their interaction and their resulting impact on ICT integration (Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018). Hence, this study aimed to gain deeper insight into the links between pre-service teachers’ internal variables by means of clustering analysis. Furthermore, the present study explored differences in pre-service teachers’ prospective ICT use for educational purposes across the clusters. The mean and standard deviation scores of pre-service teachers’ ratings suggest that they hold fairly positive attitudes towards ICT. Such result is consistent with previous studies on pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards ICT (Gretter & Yadav, 2018). This is an important finding as in-service and pre-service teachers’ attitudes play an important role in their teaching behaviours such as the integration of ICT in classroom practices (Krause et al., 2017; Seufert et al., 2021). Moreover, pre-service teachers’ concerns of their ICT use were relatively low. Previous studies have revealed mixed results on in-service teachers’ levels of concerns about ICT (Pepe, 2016; Puteh et al., 2011). However, Jogezai et al. (2018) discussed that teachers’ concerns depend on technical infrastructures (tablets, learning management systems, etc.) as well as the fact that the emergence of concerns is developmental and thus, can be divided into categories that centre on self, task and impact. In this sense, in-service teachers might rate their level of concern differently when relating to specific ICT devices and stages of usages. Within this study, the instrument used to assess pre-service teachers’ concerns cannot provide insights into whether pre-service teachers’ concerns differentiate across different categories, and thus, these results should be considered with caution. For instance, in their study, Jogezai et al. (2018) found that teachers are mainly preoccupied with the task itself (when using ICT). Thus, further research is strongly suggested to use instruments that consider the multidimensionality of the construct as well as interviews that allow an in-depth exploration that could provide more fine-grained information. Likewise, and in line with past studies, self-efficacy towards ICT use was rated as rather negative by the sample. However, this result is consistent with previous research that has indicated that pre-service teachers perceive themselves as less self-efficacious with regard to ICT use for instructional purposes (Valtonen et al., 2021). This is an interesting result given that past research has indicated that pre-service teachers feel rather positive with regards to their efficacy teaching with ICT (Pozas, 2021). Nonetheless, researchers have argued that pre-service teachers might consider themselves ‘efficacious’ based upon the general or recreational use of ICT (Maderick et al., 2015) rather than on the professional requirements to “create good digitally-supported learning environments that foster high-quality learning” (Jenßen et al., 2021, p. 185). With this context, it can be assumed that pre-service teachers feel efficacious based on their familiarity with ICT resources and tools, but still do not feel sufficiently prepared in order to incorporate it as a crucial factor in their everyday teaching practice in such a way that promotes meaningful learning activities (Gretter & Yadav, 2018; Jenßen et al., 2021). Lastly, pre-service teachers’ ICT self-concept was not significantly over the theoretical mean, but rather neutral. A study by Schweizer & Horn (2014), in contrast, suggested that pre-service teachers’ ratings were relatively high. However, the authors used an adapted version of the academic self-concept scale (SESSKO) (Dickhäuser et al., 2002). Given that this adaptation was more related to the teaching profession rather than specifically for ICT, this could inherently account for the discrepancies amongst studies (see Fig. 3).

Second, the study’s results help gain a deeper insight into the mechanisms and interrelationships between internal variables related to ICT by clearly categorizing two different teacher profiles. Cluster 1 and 2 can be seen as opposites (‘Can-do-ICT type’ vs. ‘Possibly-can’t-do-ICT type’), as Cluster 1 scored significantly higher in ICT attitudes, self-concept and self-efficacy, whereas Cluster 2 scored the lowest, and vice versa with internal variable of ICT concerns. Pre-service teacher within Cluster 1 appear to not only think positively about using ICT for teaching purposes, they also perceive themselves efficacious to pro-actively use ICT in their instruction. However, in Cluster 2, pre-service teachers feel less efficacious and positive, which inherently is reflected in their concerns regarding the potential difficulties and challenges that ICT might bring to a lesson.

In addition, the results indicated no significant associations between the teacher profiles, age, teaching programme (school track), and even more interesting, amongst gender. Numerous studies have indicated gender differences when it comes to internal variables related to ICT usage, for instance, that females hold less positive attitudes towards ICT than males (Tondeur et al., 2016). In contrast other studies have not indicated such differences (Gebhardt et al., 2019; Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018). However, it is important to highlight that previous international comparisons studies have revealed gender differences only when conducting country-level analyses (Drossel et al., 2016; Gebhardt et al., 2019).

When exploring differences across the pre-service teacher profiles, results revealed that teachers allocated within the cluster 1 are more likely to make use of technology in their future instructional practice than pre-service teachers within cluster 2. This result goes in line with previous studies that have indicated that in-service and pre-service teachers holding more positive ICT attitudes (Krause et al., 2017; Seufert et al., 2021), higher levels of self-efficacy and self-concept (Baturay et al., 2017; Gil-Flores et al., 2017; Hatlevik & Hatlevik, 2018; Schweizer & Horn, 2014; Tondeur et al., 2020) and lower concerns (Hao & Lee, 2017; Jogezai et al., 2018; Puteh et al., 2011) tend to integrate ICT into their classroom practice. Important to highlight is that most teachers were ascribed to Cluster 1 (77%), thus indicating that in the current sample pre-service teachers considered themselves positive, confident, capable and are willing to teaching with ICT. However, this does not mean ‘good news’. Teachers within Cluster 1 have average ratings scores of ICT self-efficacy and self-concept, and teachers within Cluster 2 have even lower scores. Hence, it can be assumed that teachers within both clusters, and in particular within Cluster 2, would incorporate ICT more frequently, if they had such internal variables far much positive developed. All in all, a low score on attitudes towards ICT, ICT self-efficacy and self-concept separately is a reason to integrate ICT to a lesser extent. A plausible explanation for this can be found within the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 2020). Pre- and in-service teachers that hold a positive attitude towards the integration of ICT, as well as feel efficacious and confident, tend to have a higher intention of actually using ICT for instructional purposes.

Thus, the findings within this study emphasize the importance, relevance and potential that teacher education has on supporting and fostering pre-service teachers’ attitudes, self-efficacy, self-concept and concerns in order to prepare them for their prospective teaching profession.

The present study followed convenience sampling method. Although this is a common research strategy, it possesses nevertheless several disadvantages such as the fact that the results obtained from such samples have generalizability only to the sample understudy (Bornstein et al., 2013). Additionally, the study was carried out at two universities in Germany. According to Tiede (2020), the integration of ICT-related courses into teacher training programmes in Germany significantly differs from state to state. For instance, in some universities in certain states, teacher training programmes include obligatory ICT courses, whereas in other universities such courses are elective courses which students can decide to take voluntarily. In the present study, differences across the universities were not conducted, and thus cannot explore potential differences between clusters arising from the different teacher education programmes. Consequently, generalization of the results to other universities or teacher training institutions is not possible. Similarly, the data analysed in this study was collected in only one country, thus, it cannot be assumed that the results are representative for other countries. Considering that teacher education in each country has its distinctive features, which are shaped by specific ICT competency models (Tiede, 2020), it is of upmost importance to conduct international comparative research. In addition, considering that normative documents, such as ICT educational policy papers, teacher education standards, competency model papers, “articulate in-class digital ability development” (Bolaños & Pilerot, 2021, p. 1), it would be important to explore how such normative documents influence how certain learning and training experiences are perceived and understood by both pre- and in-service teachers.

Another limitation is that the study uses pre-service teachers’ self-reports. Hence, such responses can inherently be sensitive to overestimation, underestimation, or socially desired answers. As suggested by Maderick et al. (2015), further research should follow a more holistic approach and include other methods such as observations and/or interviews. Moreover, given that different methods of clustering analysis could provide different results (Field, 2013), it is necessary for further research to test such structure in other German pre-service teachers and conduct qualitative interviews with participants as a means to confirm and validate the link between the respondents and the cluster they were ascribed to (Vanslambrouck et al., 2018).

The study explored the impact of internal variables on teachers’ ICT integration and did not focus on competences. Teachers’ digital competences are also an important determinant of ICT use in education (Tiede et al., 2015). Therefore, further research should also strongly incorporate such variable when explore pre-service teachers’ ICT profiles. Further limitations of the study relate to the small cluster size (30% of the participants were sorted into cluster 2) which could be inherently due to the small sample size and the higher percentage of female participants. However, the sample distribution is representative of the female and male student population in teacher education (Stephan et al., 2019).

Teachers play a crucial role in the pedagogically sound and effective incorporation of ICT into classrooms. Besides technology-related factors and ICT competences, in-service and pre-service teachers’ affective-motivational variables such as attitudes towards ICT, ICT self-efficacy, ICT self-concept and concerns towards ICT are essential factors that can hinder or foster whether and how ICT is integrated into a classroom. Although various research has explored such variables, their interrelations remain rather unexplored. Thus, through a cluster analysis, the results show that pre-service teachers’ affective-motivational variables have a complex and dynamic interplay, which inherently determines the extent to which a pre-service teacher will integrate ICT into their future in-class teaching. These findings are interesting for both, teacher professionalization and teacher education as they emphasize the urgency to invest efforts into supporting pre-service teachers’ affective-motivational variables and not only their ICT competency, as a lack of agency and high concerns can be together pitfalls for why pre- and in-service teachers do not succeed in successfully integrating ICT in their teaching.

Lastly, given the current Coronavirus crisis, it can be concluded that, now more than ever, pre-service teachers need to be provided with well-rounded ICT training based on authentic experiences, preparing them for their future role as teachers who can effectively include ICT in their daily teaching practice.