TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring Turkish K-12 pre-service and in-service teachers’ STEM self-efficacy: A systematic review AU - Genek, Selvet Ece AU - Ding, Lin PY - 2026 DA - January Y2 - 2026 DO - 10.19128/turje.1715589 JF - Turkish Journal of Education JO - TURJE PB - Mehmet TEKEREK WT - DergiPark SN - 2147-2858 SP - 41 EP - 64 VL - 15 IS - 1 LA - en AB - Teachers' self-efficacy in teaching STEM subjects is a crucial factor influencing the overall effectiveness of STEM education. Teachers have a major role in fostering students' interest and engagement in STEM disciplines. To address this importance, a systematic review of STEM self-efficacy with Turkish in-service and pre-service teachers at the K-12 level was conducted. This review included 25 empirical studies from ERIC, WoS, Scopus, and DergiPark databases. The analysis first focused on the descriptive characteristics of the studies, including their distribution over time, methodologies, and research designs. Subsequently, emerging themes categorized into key factors influencing STEM self-efficacy among pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers. We found that a high level of STEM attitudes, awareness, and comprehensive professional development programs significantly affected teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching STEM. Demographic variables, such as gender, area of specialty, pre-service teachers’ year of enrollment, in-service teachers’ experience, and graduate degrees also play an important role in their STEM self-efficacy. Challenges in implementation, such as classroom management, resource constraints, and student readiness are barriers to STEM self-efficacy. This study draws attention to the critical need for comprehensive professional development to improve STEM self-efficacy and to effectively integrate STEM education in K-12 settings. KW - K-12 teacher education KW - STEM education KW - STEM self-efficacy CR - *Arslan, Ö., & Yıldırım, B. (2020). 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Current Psychology, 43(31), 25743-25759.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06227-7 UR - https://doi.org/10.19128/turje.1715589 L1 - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4941464 ER -