The profile of prospective teachers in teacher education programs

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of prospective teachers. The characteristics were examined under four themes: family /home background, academic background, social background, and motivation. Six higher education institutions from four different provinces were selected and the data were collected via an information sheet consisting of closed and open-ended questions developed by the researchers. The data were analyzed mainly by making use of descriptive statistics. Results of the study indicated that students who enter teacher education programs come from low-income families. Although the type of high school from which they graduated showed variety, the data showed that the students were mainly graduates of Anatolian teacher high schools. The results also indicated that students were rarely involved in social activities during their secondary education. It was promising to observe that they had a high motivation for becoming teachers.