Examining the self-efficacy of prospective teachers in technology integration according to their subject areas: The case of Turkey

The purpose of this study is to examine prospective teachers’ TPACK self-efficacy and variables affecting their training to integrate technology in education according to their subject areas. The survey research, a quantitative research method, was used in the study. The sample of the study is composed of senior prospective teachers (n=3553) from 19 different departments of 18 state universities in Turkey. The departments were gathered into nine subject areas by taking into consideration the criteria of prospective teachers’ subject areas. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis H tests were used for the comparisons of the groups. The results of the study show that TPACK is perceived differently according to the subject areas. Prospective teachers think that teacher educators do not sufficiently exhibit technology integration behaviors in their lessons and participants think that they somewhat have authentic experiences in using technology in education. While both scores of TPACK self-efficacy and variables affecting prospective teachers’ training to integrate technology in education are higher in favor of Foreign Languages subject area; prospective teachers in Mathematics and Turkish language have lower scores than other subject areas in the study. As a result, the self-efficacy of prospective teachers’ technology integration significantly differentiates.