What Do Teacher Candidates in Turkey Think About Their Teacher Education? A Qualitative Study

Teachers have a significant role to provide the education that societies need. Therefore, the content and quality of teacher education is quite important for educating successful and competent teachers. Teacher candidates admitted to teacher education are expected to gain certain skills during their education. Moreover, the dimensions of teacher education should have an effectiveness to foster the development of these skills. This qualitative study aims to evaluate teacher education from the perspectives of teacher candidates in terms of student admission, gaining teaching skills and 21st century skills, and the dimensions of teacher education (faculty environment, program and courses, teaching practice, teaching staff). Interview schedule was used in the study and totally 43 teacher candidates selected from seven different faculties in Turkey were interviewed by the researcher. The qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results indicated the existence of agreed problems in relation to ineffectiveness of student admission to faculties through only an exam, not gaining certain teaching skills such as teaching under diverse conditions, ineffectiveness of teaching practices and not having enough practice. The necessary suggestions were made by the researcher based on the findings at the end of the study.