Early teacher identity, social empathy, and inclusive efficacy: a PLS-SEM investigation among pre-service teachers.

Introduction: This study examined the relationships among early teacher identity, social empathy, and teacher efficacy for inclusive practices among pre-service teachers. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was employed. The study sample consisted of 510 undergraduate pre-service teachers (267 early childhood education and 243 primary education students) from seven Turkish universities during the 2025-2026 academic year. Data were collected using the Attitude toward Teaching Profession Scale, the Social Empathy Scale, and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices Scale (TEIP). Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0. The analysis followed a two-stage assessment of measurement and structural models and included a 5,000-resample bootstrapping procedure to test the hypothesized relationships. Results: Findings revealed that early teacher identity was significantly and positively associated with both social empathy and teacher efficacy for inclusive practices. In addition, social empathy demonstrated a statistically significant indirect effect in the relationship between early teacher identity and teacher efficacy for inclusive practices. The model explained 43.3% of the variance in TEIP. Discussion: The results suggest that teacher education programs may benefit from greater emphasis on identity development and socio-emotional competencies, particularly social empathy, in preparing pre-service teachers for inclusive education.