Digital educational games (DEG) are increasingly advocated by researchers as effective tools for enhancing student motivation and learning outcomes. DEG can promote motivation, higher-order thinking, and increase specific academic skills (e.g., reading comprehension, computation), in contrast to a large majority of available commercial off-the-shelf games that do not show any evidence of impact on student learning. The perspectives of classroom teachers, who serve as key stakeholders in the adoption and implementation of DEGs, are often overlooked. The current study investigates the attitudes, expectations, and perspectives of pre-service and in-service teachers regarding game-based learning environments (GBLEs). A total of 162 pre-service and in-service teachers from a regional Eastern European university in the Czech Republic participated in an online survey, receiving partial course credit for completion. Participants varied in teaching experience, educational background, and current teaching status, with the majority identifying as female, reflecting the gender distribution in education majors in the surveyed region.

Thematic analysis of open-ended responses, coded by two independent raters with high reliability (κ > .78), revealed that teachers widely recognize the motivational value of games in education. However, their expectations often diverge from those of researchers and game developers. Teachers emphasized the importance of games being engaging and fun, as well as their ability to support specific student abilities and reinforce content knowledge. However, teachers did not mention that DEGs need to be grounded in scientific evidence of student learning gain or focused on specific academic outcomes. The disconnect between teachers’ and academics’ views of DEG was also underlined by the fact that no teacher mentioned scholarly known serious educational games and mainly mentioned freely available commercial games (e.g. Kahoot!, Duolingo) or games of local significance (e.g. “Magic reading”, “Wordwall”). This highlights a gap in teacher exposure and professional development in science on game-based learning education. Additionally, many educators viewed games as supplementary tools to support instruction rather than a complementary or main mode of instruction.

These findings underscore the need for targeted professional development that informs teachers about the affordances and limitations of DEGs, ensuring effective integration into classrooms. Addressing this gap can help align educator expectations with research-based best practices, enhance teacher agency in digital game-based learning, and bridge the disconnect between pedagogical needs and the development of educational games.

Acknowledgement:
The study was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR), project No. 24-12123S.

Keywords: Digital educational games, teachers, qualitative study, game-based learning environment.