Student teachers' attitudes toward the teaching profession

Attitudes are considered important predictors of behaviours. It is, therefore, essential to understand student teachers' attitudes and the factors influencing them in order to provide opportunities for desired behaviours in the classroom. This study investigated science student teachers' attitudes toward the teaching profession. The participants were 1645 (742 male, 903 female) student teachers of all years who were enrolled in a teacher education course in the education faculty during the 2010-2011 academic year at Dicle University in Turkey. Questionnaires were used to assess student teachers' attitudes toward the teaching profession. The analysis of the data revealed that female student teachers had more positive attitudes toward the teaching profession than male student teachers. Student teachers from the social sciences (e.g. languages, art, history, geography) showed more positive attitudes towards teaching than those whose majors were in the sciences (e.g. biology, chemistry, physics and math). Also, student teachers who had chosen to pursue a teaching degree as their first preference after the university entrance exam had more positive attitudes toward teaching than student teachers for whom a teaching degree was not a have high priority. Student teachers' year of study and their socio-economic background did not have any effects on their attitudes toward teaching. © 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.