In Türkiye, the science teacher education programme changed in 2018. While physics, chemistry and biology courses were taught through theoretical and laboratory applications in the previous programme (Programme-I), the course hours of these courses were reduced and laboratory hours were abolished in the new programme (Programme-II). The present research, which adopts a causal-comparative design of quantitative research, aims to compare the laboratory self-efficacy of pre-service science teachers who attended these two science teacher education programmes. The research data was collected from 289 pre-service science teachers educated in Programme-I and II through the science laboratory use self-efficacy scale and then analysed using the independent samples t-test. The results show that the total scores of laboratory use self-efficacy of pre-service science teachers trained in Programme-I is significantly higher. The scores of the pre-service science teachers from Programme-I were also found to be significantly higher than those from Programme-II in terms of the sub-dimensions using the physical environment and equipment, working independently, and crisis management. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two programmes in the sub-dimension applying scientific process skills. These results and their implications are discussed in the light of current literature.