This paper introduces a novel teacher training format, the “Teaching and Learning Laboratory-Seminar” (TLL-S) which was first implemented at Freie Universität Berlin in 2016. The TLL-S serves as a response to the demand for both more and better field experiences during early teacher training. There is strong evidence to assume that field experience is most effective when linked to such theory inputs perceived by trainees as relevant and embedded into reflective field experiences. Thus, the TLL-S-intiatives delineated here were designed according to a common framework defining a fixed set of consecutive steps allowing teacher trainees to first familiarize themselves with didactic theories, exploring them in a sphere of reduced complexity, and eventually reflecting their experiences. Consequently, the main objective of this paper is to trace and report the effects of the TLL-S on teacher trainees’ self-efficacy development and perception of ‘relevance of theoretical contents for practice’ in four subject domains (i.e. didactics of English, History, Physics, and Primary Education). Preliminary results indicate that complexity reduction of the practice environment provided by the TLL-S allegedly stabilizes teacher trainees’ self-efficacy even after repeated field experiences across all subject domains. Furthermore, ‘relevance of theoretical contents for practice’ was rated higher for the TLL-S than for previous university training formats.
