Shaping reflective practitioners: advancing meta-competences through simulation-based virtual exchange

This longitudinal study investigates how simulation-based learning embedded within virtual exchange can be intentionally designed to promote meta-competence development among pre-service teachers. Drawing on data collected over eight academic years, the study involved 645 participants from nine universities who engaged in cross-border, web-based simulations. Facilitators intentionally maintained learners within a pedagogical “challenge zone”, characterised by cognitive, emotional, and ethical complexity while ensuring psychological safety. The research examines how facilitated engagement with controversial educational roles supports the development of higher-order capacities beyond procedural skill acquisition. A qualitatively driven design was employed, integrating reflective journals, debriefing transcripts, and facilitator observation logs, with post-simulation survey data used for triangulation. The analysis revealed three interrelated developmental pathways: (1) strengthened self-regulation through emotional monitoring and strategic management of conflict; (2) enhanced reflective judgment through engagement with uncertainty, competing perspectives, and revision of pedagogical reasoning; and (3) emerging critical consciousness through critical examination of power, equity, and professional responsibility in intercultural and ethically complex educational contexts. Findings indicate that challenge-zone facilitation, structured reflection, and role-based dissonance act as key mechanisms for fostering meta-competence development. The study proposes design principles and facilitation practices for simulation-based virtual exchanges that explicitly target reflective, resilient, and ethically engaged teacher development.