Preschool Teacher Candidates Reporting: Why Preschool Teaching and What Type of Child/Childhood Definition?

Early childhood teacher education literature emphasizes the importance of examining the factors that play role in teacher candidates’ career choices in light of the views and beliefs they hold toward child/childhood. This study investigates what factors play a role in first year early childhood education teacher candidates’ career choices and how these factors overlap with their perceptions of child and childhood. The design was a “case study” of qualitative research approaches and multidimensional structured in-depth interviews, each of which lasted 60 to 90 minutes, were conducted with 15 teacher candidates. Findings show that such factors as (a) internal motivation, (b) external motivation, (c) altruistic reasons, (d) sacrificing, and (e) past personal experiences were determinant in teacher candidates’ career choices. When the relationship between teacher candidates’ career choice reasons and their child/childhood perceptions was examined based on John Wall’s (2010) historical and theoretical approach to childhood and childhood, no precise and apparent relationship was found. Yet it is understood that the factors of career choice are intricately related to (a) top down, (b) bottom up, (c) developmental and (d) childist-active perceptions of childhood. The study reveals in depth the theoretical implications of career choice factors and the complex relationship between these factors and child/childhood perceptions and presents suggestions for early childhood teacher education