Transforming Pedagogy in Teacher Education: A Comparative Meta-Synthesis of Blended Learning and Flipped Classroom Approaches

Abstract

Teacher education is experiencing a substantive pedagogical shift as digital technologies, learner-centred practices, and flexible modes of learning become increasingly embedded in professional preparation. Within this changing landscape, blended learning and the flipped classroom have attracted sustained scholarly attention because of their potential to reshape how student teachers access content, participate in learning activities, collaborate with peers, and develop professional competencies. This paper presents a comparative meta-synthesis of literature concerning blended learning and flipped classroom approaches in teacher education. It seeks to interpret the available empirical and conceptual evidence in relation to learning experiences, academic achievement, engagement, self-directed learning, collaboration, digital competence, and pedagogical development among pre-service and in-service teachers. A qualitative meta-synthesis framework is used to identify recurring themes, convergent findings, differences, and pedagogical patterns across the selected literature. The synthesis indicates that both approaches can support learner-centred and technology-mediated learning, although they do so through different forms of pedagogical organization. Blended learning provides a broader framework for integrating face-to-face and online experiences, whereas the flipped classroom primarily reorganizes when and how instructional content and active learning are addressed. The literature reviewed suggests that flipped learning has particular potential for active participation, collaborative work, application, and higher-order thinking, while blended learning offers notable flexibility and continuity across physical and digital learning spaces. At the same time, the educational value of either approach is contingent on conditions such as technological infrastructure, teacher educators’ digital and pedagogical competence, student preparedness, instructional design, accessibility, and institutional support. The paper therefore argues that blended and flipped approaches should be understood not simply as technological innovations, but as pedagogical arrangements whose effectiveness depends on their alignment with the aims, practices, and professional requirements of teacher education.