The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service PE teachers experience self-efficacy in the subareas of teaching PE and the different physical exercise environments. Furthermore, the purpose was to find differences in the self-efficacy of pre-service PE teachers during the different phases of their studies and whether correlations exist between the subareas of teaching PE or the different physical exercise environments. The target group of this study consisted of students from Jyväskylä University’s faculty of Sport and Health Sciences who began their studies during 2018-2022 (N=221). This study was a part of the Sport and Health Sciences faculty’s research on its students’ teaching readiness and competence development. The study was conducted through an electronic questionnaire on the students’ teaching readiness and competence during the fall studies of 2022. The questionnaire consisted of 44 claims, where the students were asked to assess how confident they were of their skills in performing teaching PE related tasks. The claims had an answer scale of 1–10. The overall response rate was 80.7 %. The research material was analyzed quantitatively through a one-way variance analysis and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Additional analysis on the material utilized frequencies, averages, standard deviation and percentage distributions. The reliability of the research material was examined with the Cronbach alfa coefficient. The results of our study suggested that the students’ self-efficacy was at its highest in the subareas of using technology and accommodating skill level differences between pupils. The lowest self-efficacy was experienced in teaching students with special needs and assessment. The strongest correlations were between accommodating skill level differences and instruction, and between PE content knowledge and applying scientific knowledge in teaching PE. The self efficacy of the different physical exercise environments was the strongest in teaching leisurely games and ball games, whereas the weakest self-efficacy was in teaching different dances and rhythmic exercise. The only strong correlation was between rhythmic exercise and different dances. Additionally, teaching swimming and water related safety was the only environment which had a moderate correlation to all other environments. The highest self-efficacy in the subareas of teaching PE and in the different physical exercise environments were almost always experienced by students in their third or fourth year of their studies, whereas the weakest by students in their first or second year. According to the results of our study, the subareas of assessment and teaching students with special needs could be developed further in the pre-service physical education curriculum. Furthermore, it could be beneficial to incorporate more content for rhythmic exercise, different dances and teaching apprenticeships. Other research has demonstrated that teaching apprenticeships play an important role in the self-efficacy development of future PE teachers.