The relationships between measures of anxiety, concerns, and attitude toward teaching and selected personal and academic characteristics of 260 beginning education students were investigated. Relationships were found between these measures and basic academic skills, earliness of decision to enter teaching as a career, relative assurance of…

The primary purpose of this investigation was to ascertain for a group of prospective teachers (N=563) the extent to which selected measurements of their cognitive, affective, and personal characteristics accounted for or explained the variance of the "scores" associated with 15 of their motives or reasons for becoming teachers. From a…

This study examined certifiable teacher education graduates to determine if there were ability and achievement differences between those who did and did not commence teaching careers. The findings suggest that the most academically talented graduates do not enter teaching. Implications for the teaching profession are discussed. (MT)

This study investigated possible relationships between selected teacher candidate characteristics and changes in concerns about teaching reported prior to and following teacher preparation for those candidates successfully entering or failing to enter the teaching profession. A longitudinal sample of 242 teacher candidates reported concerns about…

A total of 694 1976-1980 graduates of Bowling Green State University (Ohio) teaching in rural, urban, and suburban settings, representing elementary, secondary, specialized and special education fields, and having from one to five years of teaching experience comprised the sample for this study. Responses of these teachers to a 19-item…

This study investigated changes in outstanding teachers' concerns about teaching at four distinctly different career stages, based on F. Fuller's model of teacher development. Four samples totalling approximately 300 preservice and inservice teachers were administered the Teacher Concerns Questionnaire upon commencement of training or in early,…

This study compared the affective attributes of a sample of beginning teacher education students in the 1990s with a sample of beginning teacher education students of the 1980's to investigate whether or not educational reform actions were accompanied by changes in the affective characteristics of individuals entering teacher preparation. The data…

This study sought to identify a set of factors that teacher candidates perceived to have influenced their decisions to become teachers and then to determine the family and personal characteristics of the candidates that might be associated with these perceived influences. The subjects were 377 teacher candidates commencing the teacher preparation…

The transition of teacher candidates into the teaching profession is often perceived to be particularly traumatic. This study was designed: (1) to ascertain whether or not 61 beginning elementary and secondary classroom teachers who responded on 2 occasions to the same work expectations scale changed job entry expectations between completion of…

Studied whether differences exist among academic, affective, and personal characteristics of teacher education persisters and nonpersisters in a longitudinal sample of 550 education majors. Five years later, 65% had persisted through teacher training. Factors predicting persistence (i.e., higher college grade point average and positive attitude…

This study examined whether 540 teacher candidates who failed to or who successfully made the transition into teaching 7 years after commencement of teacher preparation differed in anxiety about teaching, attitude toward a teaching career, and self-perceived effectiveness as future teachers. At the beginning of teacher preparation in 1985,…