Characteristics of Entering Teacher Candidates

Characteristics of entering teacher candidates, defined as students enrolled in their first education course, have been the focus of 44 studies located for this review. Four major categories of variables have been studied: (a) demographics and high-school background; (b) motivation to teach and career expectations; (c) confidence and optimism or anxiety and concerns about teaching; and (d) perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of teachers. Most of the research employed a survey methodology. This article presents a descriptive synthesis of findings from these studies. The principle of thematic consistency with empirical variability—that is, that the general conclusions of the studies have been similar even though the data have shown differences from study to study—is advanced to organize a discussion of what is known about entering teacher candidates and suggestions for future research in this field.