Curriculum satisfaction and pre-service teachers' social-emotional competencies: the serial mediation role of artificial intelligence anxiety and learning engagement.

This study examined the serial mediation role of artificial intelligence anxiety and learning engagement in the relationship between pre-service teachers' curriculum satisfaction and social-emotional competencies. This study included 550 pre-service teachers from a public university in Türkiye. This correlational study used the IBM SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 6-Two-Mediator Serial Mediation Analysis/Model). In this study, the scales of student satisfaction, artificial intelligence anxiety, student engagement, and social-emotional expertise were used as data collection tools. To provide a coherent and integrated understanding of the structural relationships, this study was grounded in the input-process-output framework. In this model, curriculum satisfaction was regarded as an input. Artificial intelligence anxiety and learning engagement were regarded as processes. Social-emotional competencies were regarded as an output within the framework. As a result, curriculum satisfaction was negatively associated with artificial intelligence anxiety. Artificial intelligence anxiety was negatively associated with learning engagement. Learning engagement was positively associated with social-emotional competencies. Curriculum satisfaction was also positively associated with social-emotional competencies. When the model included artificial intelligence anxiety and learning engagement simultaneously, the relationship between curriculum satisfaction and social-emotional competencies was reduced but remained statistically significant. In line with these results, artificial intelligence anxiety and learning engagement played a partial serial mediation role in the relationship between curriculum satisfaction and social-emotional competencies (β = 0.051, SE = 0.010, 95% CI = [0.028, 0.074], p < 0.01). The findings may help clarify the importance of curriculum satisfaction, artificial intelligence anxiety, learning engagement, and social-emotional competencies together when designing teacher training curriculum.