A multi-cohort three-year longitudinal study is conducted on students’ professional development, student characteristics and study program conditions relevant for learning in the new “Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training” and in the traditional master's program.

Three master’s cohorts in the “Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training” take place simultaneously. Every cohort starts in the winter semester and completes the program in six semesters.

Pre-service teachers’ professional knowledge on instruction (a dimension of pedagogical/psychological knowledge, PPK), content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in their STEM teaching subject (mathematics or physics) is measured by means of knowledge tests in the “Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training” and the traditional master’s program. Measurement points are at the beginning (before university education) and end of the entire study program.

Lesson plans in the pre-service teachers of the “Integrated Study Programme M. Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training” are examined at the end of the 1^st semester and end of the entire study program. A lesson plan template was designed in cooperation with teacher educators of both training phases (university education and teacher induction) in order to investigate pre-service teachers’ skills to apply theoretical professional knowledge in the context of lesson planning.

Students’ perceived teaching competence is examined at the end of each school year in the “Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training” and in the traditional master’s program.

Pre-service teachers’ motivation, satisfaction and stress are examined at the end of the 2^nd  semester, as well as at the end of the 1^st and 2^nd school year in the ‘Integrated Study Programme M. Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training’ (4^th and 6^th semesters) and the traditional master’s program.

• Pre-service teachers’ perceived curriculum design coherence between university courses and teacher induction meetings is examined weekly in the ‘Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training’.
• Pre-service teachers’ perceived references to the school context in university courses are analysed at the end of the 2^nd semester in the ‘Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training’. In the traditional master’s program, it is measured at the end of the 2^nd and 4^th semesters.
• Pre-service teachers’ perceived references to professional knowledge in school mentors’ feedback are investigated in the ‘Integrated Study Programme M.Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training’. The measurement point is in the 3^rd semester.
• Pre-service teachers’ perceived coherence between teacher training phases (university education and teacher induction) is examined at the end of the 1^st and 2^nd school year in the ‘Integrated Study Programme M. Ed. Vocational Education and Teacher Training’ (4^th and 6^th semesters) and the traditional master’s program.

The results serve as a direct evaluation of the study program and are used directly for its further development.