Teacher Candidates’ Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession in Turkey

Abstract

This study examined the attitudes of teacher candidates in Turkey towards the teaching profession. Descriptive surveys were used and the research data was obtained from Pamukkale University Classroom Teaching students. During data analysis, the arithmetic means and standard deviations of the groups were calculated and a t-test and One-Way ANOVA were used. The attitudes of teacher candidates towards the teaching profession don’t vary in terms of “gender”, “type of teaching”, “type of high schools they graduate from” and in order of their preferences to be a teacher. More than half of the candidates choose the Classroom Teaching Program willingly and about all of them want to perform this profession, but their attitudes towards the teaching profession were not well developed. The majority of the participants were not satisfied with the University and faculty administrations and reopted that they don’t show enough effort required to develop themselves for the profession. It is found that the attitudes of students expressing their discontent are at a lower level. It is necessary to provide the teacher candidates not only with knowledge and skills, but also to help them develop the beliefs and positive attitudes related to the profession.