A Study on the Motivation Factors Affecting the Teaching Profession as a Career Choice.

This study aims to analyze the motivation factors of teacher candidates in choosing the teaching profession. The study employed a survey model which was carried out with 543 teacher candidates. The data were collected through the ' Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale' and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the highest rated motivation factors of teacher candidates for teaching were "shape the future of children/adolescents', ' make a social contribution', and ' enhance social equity' . Teacher candidates were least affected by ' job transferability', ' social influences', and ' fallback career' . Female teacher candidates attached more importance to social utility values, and they were more influenced by their environment to become a teacher than males. While the teacher candidates from the department of elementary education had the highest scores in the factors of ' shape the future of children/adolescents', ' enhance social equity', ' make a social contribution', ' work with children/adolescents', and ' intrinsic career values', the teacher candidates from the department of education science had the lowest scores in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]