Preservice teachers’ pedagogical and psychological knowledge: Structure and learning opportunities

Pedagogical/psychological knowledge (PPK) is a crucial part of teachers’ professional knowledge. We examined the latent structure of preservice teachers’ PPK and its relationship to learning opportunities provided as part of university programs in teacher education: content covered in university courses, and teaching experience provided through internships. Based on a sample of 1036 participants, the results confirmed a four-dimensional structure of preservice teachers’ PPK. Course content explained differences in all dimensions of PPK. Teaching experience incrementally accounted for differences in the dimensions of instruction and individual learning processes and motivation, but not in the dimensions of classroom management or assessment.