When personal experience becomes professional power: how pre-service teachers discover their creative capacity during teaching internships.

Introduction: Teacher education research has documented beginning teachers' struggles extensively, but we know surprisingly little about the innovative capabilities that emerge during intensive field experiences. This phenomenological study examines how 17 pre-service teachers, 16 women and one man, representing both Arab and Jewish students, aged 22-28, discovered their creative capacity during year-long teaching internships at an Israeli teacher training college. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews, we invited participants to share their most meaningful success stories about transformative work with individual students. Methods: Through interpretative phenomenological analysis, three interconnected themes emerged. Results: First, participants systematically transformed personal struggles into professional tools for healing, converting difficult life experiences into resources to support students facing similar challenges. Second, they developed sophisticated environmental awareness, paired with methodical relationship-building approaches that evolved from intuitive care into systematic professional practice. Third, they engaged in principled rule-breaking, prioritizing student success over institutional compliance and thoughtfully departing from conventional approaches when these failed to serve student needs. Our analysis reveals that pre-service teachers possess innovative potential that challenges deficit-focused perspectives dominating teacher preparation discourse. Discussion: This creative capacity flourishes when certain conditions are met: extended time for authentic relationship-building, supervision that encourages personal and professional integration, and institutional environments that support thoughtful innovation. Rather than viewing difficult life experiences as barriers to effective teaching, participants converted personal wisdom into professional resources. These findings suggest that teacher education needs fundamental rethinking. Rather than focusing primarily on fixing deficits, programs could recognize and systematically cultivate the creative power that emerges during intensive field experiences. This requires redesigned supervision approaches, curriculum modifications, and institutional structures that support principled innovation during teaching internships.