‘Teacher’ Perceptions of Pre-service Science Teachers

Today, instead of being the one transferring information, teachers are considered as a guide for students. At the same time, they have important effects on students’ psychological well beings. According to pre-service teachers, who is a teacher? The aim of this study is to examine the “teacher” perceptions of the pre-service science teachers’ who have just started their undergraduate education. The study was designed in a phenomenological research design. The study was carried out with 46 pre-service science teachers who are at the first grade of Science Education Program. The pre-service science teachers who were voluntary to participate in the study were asked to write an essay about the question of "Who is a teacher?”. The essays were analyzed through using the content analysis method. It was found that the “teacher” perceptions of pre-service science teachers fall into three categories; “Teacher in Student Relationships”, “Teacher in Occupation” and “Teacher in Society”. It was found that ‘Teacher in Student Relationships’ is the most mentioned category by the pre-service science teachers