In recent years, the concept of student engagement in the learning process has piqued scholarly interest across higher education. Although there is no unanimous agreement on defining student engagement, it has been commonly determined that it should encompass students' dedication to organizing their study process and programme structure, seeking the optimization of their academic performance. Thus, the aim of our study is to reveal pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward the opportunities for promoting their active engagement in the study process. This study reports on the findings from a study that aimed to investigate the attitudes of future preschool and primary teachers towards their engagement in the study process. The primary focus is placed on exploring student satisfaction with studies, the challenges they face, and the opportunities the study programme provides. In this study, a mixed-methods research design was used. A total of 148 pre-service preschool and primary teachers participated in the research. The data were collected using an online survey, which comprised both quantitative and qualitative questions. The quantitative analysis demonstrated that the vast majority of informants felt actively engaged in the study process, whereas the conducted content analysis of pre-service teachers’ responses revealed the main challenges they encountered and key elements that make studies engaging.

Keywords: Pre-service teachers, student engagement, study process.