Who Prefer Teacher Education Programs? Candidates' Entry Characteristics and Attitude towards Teaching

The purpose of this study is to investigate first-year teacher candidates' entry characteristics, their attitude towards teaching, and factors affecting their attitude. This is a quantitative study and survey design was used in the study. The sample of the study consisted of 312 first-year teacher candidates enrolled to various teaching departments in a faculty of education in Turkey. A questionnaire, having three parts, was prepared and used by the researchers to collect data. The quantitative data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed using both descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Simple Linear Regression) based on the research questions. The results of the study suggested important findings in relation to the entry characteristics of teacher candidates. According to the findings of the study, gender, department, desire to be a teacher, satisfaction from department, satisfaction from conditions of the country, and general life satisfaction were found to be significant factors affecting candidates' attitude towards teaching. On the other hand, mother and father education, type of high school, and having a teacher in the family were nonsignificant factors. It is crucial to know entering teacher candidates' characteristics, their attitude towards teaching, and the factors affecting their attitude, since the decision makers and academicians working in the field of teacher education might take better and more appropriate decisions benefiting from these results in relation to student selection, content of the programs, and instruction.