Across European teacher education systems, preparing pre-service teachers for increasingly complex, diverse, and technology-mediated classrooms has become a central concern. Although school-based practicum remains a cornerstone of initial teacher education, research has consistently shown that traditional practicum structures often provide uneven learning opportunities due to limited mentoring capacity, restricted exposure to diverse classroom scenarios, and insufficient opportunities for repeated instructional rehearsal (Darling-Hammond et al., 2002; Girod & Girod, 2008; Stronge et al., 2011). These limitations are particularly consequential for the development of teacher self-efficacy, a construct closely associated with instructional effectiveness, persistence, and professional resilience (Bandura, 1994; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001).

Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, teacher self-efficacy develops primarily through mastery experiences, vicarious learning, social persuasion, and affective regulation (Bandura, 1977, 1994). However, conventional teaching practice often offers few low-risk opportunities for iterative practice and reflection, especially in contexts shaped by institutional constraints and crisis-related disruptions to schooling (Wilke, 2004). In response, simulation-based learning has gained increasing attention as a means of extending practicum experiences beyond the constraints of time, place, and school availability. Digital teaching simulations provide controlled environments in which pre-service teachers can rehearse instructional strategies, respond to student behaviour, and receive immediate feedback—conditions aligned with established sources of self-efficacy development (Dieker et al., 2014; Michael & Gilad, 2015).

While international research indicates that simulations can positively contribute to pre-service teachers’ professional learning when integrated alongside authentic teaching experiences, findings remain mixed and highly dependent on program design (Gundel et al., 2019; Samuelsson et al., 2022; Schreiber, 2022). In particular, there is limited empirical guidance on the design conditions under which simulations function effectively as a complement to school-based practicum—such as coherence with practicum objectives, structured scaffolding, sustained engagement, and feedback mechanisms—rather than as a stand-alone or replacement activity (Bradley & Kendall, 2014).

This gap is especially evident in European contexts such as Türkiye, where teacher education programs are navigating curricular reform, digitalisation, and the long-term effects of global and national crises (MoNE, 2018). Positioned within ECER’s focus on teacher education research, the present study examines simulation-enhanced teaching practice as a structured complement to practicum, with particular attention to its role in supporting pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy and informing evidence-based teacher education design.

To this end, the study addresses the following research questions:

1. What are the impacts of complementing the teaching practice experience with a virtual simulation program on student teachers' sense of self-efficacy?

• How does participation in the traditional teaching practice course impact student teachers' sense of self-efficacy?  
• How does participation in teaching practice with the use of a simulation program impact student teachers' sense of self-efficacy?
• Is there a significant difference regarding the sense of self-efficacy between the student teachers who only attend the traditional teaching practice course and who attend both the traditional teaching practice course and the teaching simulation? 

2. What are the underlying experiences of student teachers who participate in a traditional teaching practice course and who attend the traditional teaching practice course complemented with teaching simulation?  

• What are the underlying experiences of student teachers who participate in a traditional teaching practice course?
• What are the underlying experiences of student teachers who attend a teaching practice course complemented with teaching simulation?
• How do the experiences of student teachers whose experience is enriched with simulations differ from the ones who only attend the teaching practice course?

This study investigates the effects of complementing school-based teaching practice with an AI-supported virtual classroom simulation on pre-service EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and lived practicum experiences. Guided by a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods logic, the study addresses both measurable changes in self-efficacy and the processes through which such changes are constructed and interpreted by student teachers. The research questions focus on (a) whether self-efficacy changes over time, (b) whether changes differ between traditional and simulation-enhanced practicum conditions, and (c) how participants describe and explain their experiences across the two instructional contexts. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative-dominant, partially mixed, concurrent status mixed-methods design (QUAL → quan). Quantitative and qualitative data are collected during the same practicum period, analyzed separately to preserve methodological integrity, and integrated at the interpretation stage to generate explanatory meta-inferences. The study is situated in the English Language Teaching (ELT) Department at Middle East Technical University (METU) within the compulsory English Language Teaching Practicum II course. All participants complete standard practicum requirements regulated by institutional and national frameworks; the simulation component is designed to complement—not replace—school placements. Quantitative participants include 50 student teachers at pre-test (25 traditional; 25 simulation-enhanced), with 47 completing post-test measures (25 traditional; 22 simulation-enhanced). The sample is predominantly female (n=36), all Turkish, and largely in the 8th semester, with ages ranging from 22–25. Qualitative participants comprise a purposeful subsample of seven student teachers (4 simulation-enhanced; 3 traditional), selected for willingness and reflective capacity to provide in-depth accounts. The simulation-enhanced condition uses SimSchool, providing iterative, low-risk rehearsal through AI-driven student avatars, learner profiles, lesson plans, and automated feedback reports. Participants complete 202 sessions in total (minimum 8 modules; approximately 9 sessions per student), accumulating 119 hours of simulation engagement. Quantitative data are gathered with the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), using the Turkish adaptation (Çapa, 2005). Qualitative data are collected via expert-reviewed semi-structured interviews conducted pre-practicum and post-practicum (with group-specific forms). Quantitative analysis employs a 2 (Time: pre/post) × 2 (Group) mixed-design ANOVA with assumption checks. Qualitative analysis combines content analysis with reflexive thematic analysis, using a hybrid deductive–inductive coding strategy and an inter-rater agreement procedure to support analytic rigor. Ethical approval was obtained from METU’s Human Research Ethics Committee; confidentiality and voluntariness were ensured throughout.

This study contributes evidence to teacher education research by demonstrating that simulation-enhanced practicum can meaningfully shape pre-service EFL teachers’ self-efficacy trajectories, beyond what is observed in traditional school-based teaching practice alone. Quantitative findings from the mixed-design ANOVA indicate divergent change patterns across groups: while the simulation-enhanced group increased from pre- to post-test (M = 143.68 to 159.84), the traditional practicum group showed a marked decline (M = 146.32 to 97.84). The Time × Group interaction was large and statistically significant, F(1, 48) = 20.95, p < .001, partial η² = .304, indicating that change in self-efficacy differed substantially by instructional condition. A significant Group effect further supported higher overall self-efficacy for the simulation-enhanced condition, F(1, 48) = 16.50, p < .001, partial η² = .256. Importantly, these outcomes should be interpreted in relation to the design intensity and coherence of the intervention: the simulation-enhanced cohort engaged in sustained, iterative practice (202 sessions; 119 cumulative hours; minimum eight modules), allowing repeated cycles of rehearsal, feedback, and reflection aligned with practicum goals. The qualitative strand (seven purposively selected participants across both conditions) complements the statistical results by illuminating how self-efficacy was constructed in practice—through narrated experiences of planning, decision-making, classroom management, and engagement challenges, and by clarifying the affordances and constraints of simulated rehearsal alongside school placements. Overall, the findings support a programmatic implication relevant to teacher education: simulations appear most promising when implemented as a structured complement to practicum, with clear pedagogical alignment, scaffolding, feedback loops, and sufficient duration to enable learning across iterations.

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