Relevance of pre-service teacher training to use ICT for the actual use in classrooms – focus on German secondary schools

Integrating digital media into education and fostering school students' competencies in computational thinking and media literacy requires comprehensive information and communication technology (ICT)-related pre-service teacher training. However, it remains unclear whether such training is associated with a more frequent use of ICT in classrooms and the fostering of students' competencies. Furthermore, it is uncertain if the frequency of ICT use is related to pre-service teachers' practical experience. These questions are examined based on a representative German secondary school teacher survey (N = 1218) using logistic regression analyses. Taking further variables on school level and teacher level into account, it could be shown that teachers' self-assessed technological pedagogical and content knowledge to use ICT in instruction is the most relevant predictor of the frequency of use and the fostering of students' computational thinking. Overall, there were hardly any differences between the more theoretical and the more practical phases of teacher education.