The relationships among pre-service teachers' critical thinking disposition, self-efficacy, and creative thinking disposition in Turkey: A latent growth mediation model

Abstract

Critical and creative thinking dispositions are essential for pre-service teachers, as these skills are crucial for effective teaching. Despite their importance, research focusing specifically on these dispositions in pre-service teachers remains limited. Moreover, the existing studies that do explore the interplay between critical and creative thinking often overlook the mediating role of self-efficacy and predominantly rely on cross-sectional data. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the dynamic relationship between critical and creative thinking dispositions and the mediating role of self-efficacy among pre-service teachers using longitudinal data. A three-wave longitudinal study was conducted over a four-month period, collecting data from 529 pre-service teachers who completed all waves. Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) was employed to analyze the responses. Results showed slight increases in critical thinking (M1 = 42.18, M2 = 42.39, M3 = 43.81), self-efficacy (M1 = 30.04, M2 = 30.32, M3 = 31.44), and creative thinking disposition (M1 = 97.51, M2 = 97.80, M3 = 99.35) over time. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with both initial levels and longitudinal changes in critical thinking (intercept beta = 0.63, slope beta = 0.68, p < 0.001) and creative thinking (intercept beta = 0.66, slope beta = 0.62, p < 0.001) dispositions. Importantly, self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between critical and creative thinking dispositions at the initial level (indirect effect beta = 0.601, p < 0.001) and over time (indirect effect beta = 0.510, p < 0.001). These findings underscore the importance of nurturing self-efficacy in pre-service teachers throughout their university education to enhance their critical and creative thinking abilities. Designing educational environments emphasizing higher-order thinking skills, such as project-based and problem-based learning methods, is crucial for achieving this developmental goal.