Primarily, research on work-integrated learning in teacher education has focused on either pre-service teachers’ learning on and off campus or teacher educators’ daily professional learning. This implies a need for further studies with a combined focus on pre-service teachers and teacher educators. Hence, this integrative literature review is twofold: firstly, to map the published literature on work-integrated learning in teacher education and secondly, to synthesise prior research through a socio-cultural lens, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

The search strategy encompassed articles from 2020 to 2025, and the final material, comprising 21 peer-reviewed articles were analysed and subsequently synthesised from a sociocultural perspective, drawing on ideas of learning as a social activity mediated through interaction with others. Findings reveal constraints and facilitators related to pre-service teachers’ work-integrated learning during placement. Constraints and facilitators for teacher educators related to changed teaching conditions and teaching competence. The concepts of agency and interactional space were employed to synthesise the findings.

In conclusion, high agency and a wide interactional space facilitate work-integrated learning for pre-service teachers and teacher educators, whereas restricted agency and a limited interactional space hinder the same.