Prospective teachers' interest in teaching, professional plans about teaching and career choice satisfaction : a relevant framework?

This study examines the relationships among prospective teachers' interest in teaching, professional engagement and career development aspirations, and career choice satisfaction. A total of 602 prospective teachers from various primary (for example, primary school teaching) and secondary (for example, English language teaching) teacher education programs of a large university in Turkey participated voluntarily in the study. The results show that, regardless of the effects of demographic variables such as gender, age, year of study or fields of study, the prospective teachers' interest in teaching can be identified through three distinctly different profiles: high, medium and low interest in teaching. Results of the present study also demonstrate that the profiles of prospective teachers' interest in teaching were significantly related to their career choice satisfaction and professional plans. [Author abstract]