Motivation itself is “internal drive, driving force, feeling and desire directing a person to perform a specific activity” (Brown, 2001). The sources leading to the initiation of an action can be grouped as internal and external.

Intrinsic motivation can be defined as a process that is initiated by wonders, a desire to know, a competitive soul, and a want to advance (Reeve, 1997: 105). More specifically, intrinsic motivation can be viewed from three perspectives. Noels et al. (2003: 38) explain it as (a) knowledge that is being activated by the pleasure and satisfaction of learning something, solving and understanding a problem; (b) achievement or being activated with the possible satisfaction derived from achieving or producing something; and (c) arousal, being activated as a result of feeling positive emotions such as excitement, happiness. Intrinsically motivated teachers become activated by the pleasure of learning and teaching new things, the satisfaction of achieving and producing something, and the gratification of seeing the positive outcomes of their activities. However, people do not become activated only by internal factors. Extrinsically motivated people want to achieve their objective by putting in the least possible effort. Furthermore, it has been shown that the individual school experiences of pre-service teachers have a great influence on their decisions to select the teaching profession (Roness and Smith, 2009). No matter what the sources of motivation are for pre-service teachers and to what extent they are influenced by them, it is commonly agreed that the value of motivation is undeniable.

Since there are some connections between motivation for entrance to the profession and remaining in the profession, leaving the profession, and participating in activities related to the profession, the research in this field becomes more important. Though the motivation for entrance to the profession is important, it is seen that the research mostly focuses on the sources of motivation (Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010; Watt and Richardson, 2007). Motivation sources for teaching are related to the teachers' changing their jobs and/or quit the job (Manuel and Huges; Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010; Ronnes and Smith, 2010).

The sources of motivation for selecting teaching as a profession are divided into three categories-altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic. Altruistic motives are generally related with the desire to contribute to individual and social development. Factors such as working with children and doing work related to one’s area of specialty represent intrinsic motives. The external factors related to salary, job status, working conditions, and holiday opportunities constitute extrinsic motives (Andrews and Hatch, 2010).

The sources of motivation may vary from person to person and from society to society. Since there may be some similarities in reasons to become a teacher among teachers from different countries and subject areas, there may also be some differences. For instance, Andrews and Hatch (2010) carried out a study in England and found that mathematics teachers’ motivations to enter the teaching profession were affected by their experiences as students, eagerness to work with people, a sense of inevitability, and desire. In another study carried out in England and Norway (Kyr?acou et al., 1999), it was found that in both countries, a strong factor motivating pre-service teachers was a fondness for teaching their subject area. Moreover, this study showed that the great amount of social leisure time and summer holidays enjoyed by professional teachers were important motivators. Among a selection of Chinese pre-service teachers, teaching as a profession, job security, and stability emerged as important external factors (Gao and Trent, 2009).

A study was carried out to determine the motivation sources of pre-service teachers in Taiwan. It was found that the pre-service teachers’ earlier teaching experiences (private tutoring at home, working with children in study centers, etc.) constituted 66-80% of their motivation source to enter into professional teaching. Another important source of motivation for these pre-service teachers was their positive experiences in their two-year teacher-training program (Wang, 2004).

In Turkey, it was found that the motivation for entrance to the profession mostly stems from internal reasons and external reasons have the weakest influence on this motivation (Yenilmez and Acat, 2003; Üstüner et al., 2009; Çermik et al., 2010).

The support given by the mentors to the future teachers can play a vital role in their choosing their professions, in the study where it is emphasized that the experiences and practices in the program are very important (Rots et al., 2013). Early positive experiences in teaching education are strong sources of motivation (Edwing and Manuel, 2005, cited in Manuel and Huges, 2006). Teaching experiences are regarded as quite important for motivations in beginning the profession (Manuel and Huges, 2006). Furthermore, having positive and strong motivations toward the teaching profession is directly associated with possessing the aptitude for teaching. This factor combined with the caliber of educated teachers can affect the quality of education they provide once they have started teaching. In addition, pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the teaching profession can correlate with differing educational backgrounds. In Turkey, students graduating from a faculty of Science and Letters-whose primary purpose is not teacher training can be appointed as teachers after undergoing some procedures:

As for teacher selection and appointment in Turkey, there are two institutions training teachers. One of them is teachers' college. The students having a diploma from a teachers' college can work as a teacher in any part of the country if they pass the general teacher appointment exam. Each year the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE) appoints certain numbers of teachers from different branches. In addition, graduates of the faculties of science and letters can be appointed as teachers if they complete an initial teacher-training program. These programs are known as non-thesis master's degree programs. This teacher formation education is given through courses organized by teachers' colleges to a certain number of faculties of science and letters.

Undergraduate students who generally graduate from faculties of science and letters could be candidates for teachers after they complete the non-thesis master's degree programs consisting of theoretical and practical knowledge about teaching education in order to educate teachers for secondary education. Turkish Higher Education Council (THEC) stopped accepting students for the non-thesis master's degree programs educating teachers for secondary education, starting from the academic year 2012-2013. These programs were transformed into pedagogical formation programs.

In the present study, we had the opportunity to compare the motivation of pre-service teachers in Turkey coming from two different educational backgrounds (graduate and undergraduate) and three different teacher formation programs (a master’s program without thesis, a program designed for graduate students, and a program designed for undergraduate students). Their motivations toward the teaching profession and their opinions about their formation programs were assessed.

The presents study investigates the motivation of pre-service teachers coming from different teacher education programs (master program without thesis, graduate students of faculties of science and letters, and under-graduate students of education faculties) for entrance to the profession and their opinions about the pedagogic teacher formation certificate program. Practices of the teaching profession may affect the professional motivation of pre-service teachers and their decision-making process for entrance to the profession. Correct determination of the motivation for entrance to the teaching profession may contribute to the development of teacher education programs and the making of some predictions for the future.

The purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to determine the factors motivating pre-service teachers’ motivations toward teaching profession and their opinions about pedagogic formation program. The answers to the following questions are searched in this research:

1. What motivated the students to choose teaching as a career?

2. What are the views of the pre-service teacher candidates about the Pedagogic Formation Program?

Study group

The study group consisted of 200 graduate students attending a master’s program without thesis and 101 students attending a pedagogic formation program in the Faculty of Science and Letters. The total number of participants was 301. Both groups have different teacher training programme.

The Pedagogic Formation Program consists of 32-credit h of theoretical courses and 26-credit h of practice courses given within two or three terms to the graduates of faculties of Science and Letters who are selected through exams by an Education faculty (YÖK, 2007).

The Pedagogic Formation Program is open to students attending or graduating from faculties of Science and Letters. Those students having a 2.5 out of 4 grade-point average or higher or having a 65 out of 100 can apply for this program. This program covers two terms and a total of 10 courses. This formation program is still in progress. However, the master’s program without thesis was terminated in the 2010-2011 academic year. As of the 2011-2012 academic term, only graduate students meeting the requirements of the faculties of Science and Letters will be able to attend teacher formation programs. Students having enrolled before that date are still considered eligible and are continuing.

In the study group, there were 211 female (70%) students and 89 male (30%) students. The participants self-reported that they were at low socioeconomic levels (13.2%), medium socioeconomic levels (84.2%), and high socioeconomic levels (2.6%). In the sampling, 40% (n122) stated that they had had some previous teaching experience such as giving short-term courses or private tutoring-especially among those attending the master’s program without thesis.

All participants gave their fully informed consent. The following steps were undertaken to ensure due consideration of the ethical process: All institutional information was de-identified; all student-teacher responses were anonymous; and departments and student teachers were given the choice to respond to the survey questionnaire, and their submission of the questionnaire was taken as indication of their informed consent to participate in the research.

Data collection tool

Data were collected through a questionnaire developed by Roness and Smith (2009) for pre-service teachers attending post-graduate certificate programs in education (PGCE). Along with the questionnaire, open-ended questions about the pre-service teachers’ opinions about their formation programs and the researchers administered their motivations toward the teaching profession. The question about the sixteen motives for becoming teachers in the assessment and evaluation instrument developed by Roness and Smith (2009) was applied to the pre-service teacher candidates in the study group. In this application, the motivation sources for choosing the profession of teaching were tried to be determined. Arrangements were made in some questions, although the original assessment and evaluation instrument was abided. For example, the 16^th question in the assessment and evaluation instrument ''I wish to work with my subject matter'' was arranged as ''I want to work in my subject area'' and the 27^th question of the original assessment and evaluation instrument ''Teachers have better arrangements for vacations than most other professions'' was arranged as ''Teachers have better holiday opportunities when compared to the other professionals.'' The questionnaire developed by Roness and Smith consists of 16 items intended to elicit the sources of motivation towards the teacher-training program intending to elicit the reasons for choosing teaching as a profession. For example:

Reasons to want to be a teacher

Strongly Disagree, Undecided,   Agree, Strongly Agree

‘I want to work in my own field (subject area)’

4 items aiming to elicit their opinions about the formation program (Table 1). Reasons for participating, 

‘I want to be a teacher’

And 5 items on the opinions about the teacher formation program in general (Table 5).

The opinions about the teacher formation program,

‘Attending the program is exciting’

Before administration of the questionnaire, experts produced several translations of the questionnaire. Then, the inter-related consistency among the translations was tested, and it was found to be 92%. Through  piloting,  clarity  of  the  questionnaire items was tested. For items aiming at eliciting motivation toward teaching, the Cronbach alpha value was found to be .53 and for items aiming at eliciting opinions about the program, it was found to be .78. Moreover, correlation values between the related items were calculated.

The items in the questionnaire were based on the pre-service teachers’ motivations toward the teaching profession and their expectations from the formation process. The questionnaire was administered at the end of the program, and it was administered both to the 2009-2010 graduates of the master’s program without thesis and the students still attending formation programs in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Data analysis

The pre-service teachers’ responses to the questionnaire items were analyzed through frequencies, percentages, and chi-square test. In addition, the responses to the open-ended questions were analyzed through data analysis, and similar opinions were grouped. Frequencies and percentages of the opinions were also calculated.

Motivation toward the teaching profession

The findings with regard to the pre-service teachers’ reasons for participating in their teacher certification program (master’s program without thesis or teacher formation program) are presented in Table 1.

Both the pre-service teachers from the master’s program without thesis and those from the teacher formation program reported that they participated in these programs largely due to their desire to become teachers (86%). Another important motivating factor was to find a permanent job (59%). The possibility of having more professional alternatives to the business world was the third highest response motivating the pre-service teachers (46%). The percentage of pre-service teachers who found themselves incidentally involved in the teaching profession was approximately 12%. Through these findings, it can be  interpreted  that  the  pre-service teachers from the Faculty of Science and Letters-either those participating in the master’s program as graduate students or those participating in the teacher formation program as graduate and undergraduate students-do so to become teachers, to have permanent jobs, or to have more professional alternatives to the business world.

According to the OECD data (OECD, 2013), when compared to the OECD countries, it is seen that the participation of the young population in Turkey (population aged 15-25) in employment and education is quite low. While the percentage of young population not involved in labor force and education is 35%, it is 16 % on average for OECD countries. In Turkey, 252,741 pre-service teachers took the exam of educational science in 2013. And in the same year, the number of teachers to be appointed by the Ministry of National Education was announced to be 40,000. This means that only 15.8% of the pre-service teachers could find a teaching position in state schools (this ratio may change from one teaching branch to another). In Turkey, the newly appointed teachers do not have the freedom of changing the school they wish to work at. Teachers are appointed to vacant posts (?eker and Maehara, 2014). Though there have been some improvements in the economic conditions of teachers in Turkey in recent years, the average wage of elementary school teachers is quite lower than the OECD average (OECD, 2013). It is seen that external factors are not largely effective in the reasons for the pre-service teachers to attend teaching formation programs, in our sample. This finding is analyzed in the conclusion parts of the article.

The reasons that the pre-service teachers want to become teachers are presented in Table 2.

The results presented in Table 2 show that almost all of the pre-service teachers wanted to be teachers, as they wanted to work in their own subject areas (95%). Pre-service teachers (28%) of the pre-service teachers stated that teaching was the only job they could do with their subject combination. Nearly 18% of the pre-service teachers  disagreed  with  the idea that teaching is a profession. Overall, 87% of the participants stated that they wanted other people to be interested in their field (subject area). In general, these findings indicate that the pre-service teachers had positive opinions about their own fields (subject areas). Their stated reasons for wanting to become teachers are paraphrased as  follows:

I like teaching (95%). I think I have an aptitude to be a teacher (90%). I want to work with young people (90%). It is meaningful to work with children and young people (86%). I can make a contribution to the improvement of future generations as a teacher (88%). I can use my creativity as a teacher (87%). Teaching seems to be an exciting profession (80%). Teachers have better holiday opportunities compared to other professionals (76%). I have an opportunity to find a job in every part of the country (40%). There is much freedom in the profession of teaching (23%).

These findings show that the most important reasons for wanting to become teachers were an affinity for the profession, working with children and young people, and using their creativity. When the findings in Table 2 are closely observed, opinions regarding the items “Teaching seems to be an exciting profession” and “There is much freedom in the profession of teaching” appear to differ based on an academic level.

The pre-service teachers’ opinions and chi-square results for these opinions are presented in Tables 3 and 4.

As evident in Table 3, the undergraduate students viewed teaching as a more exciting profession as com-pared with their graduate-level counterparts. Teaching experiences of the teacher candidates studying for a non-thesis master's degree program and graduated from undergraduate programs  can  cause them to make more realistic evaluations about the profession of teaching. If the teacher candidates have intrinsic and altruistic motivation when they start the profession of teaching, they are disillusioned during their teaching education or it can cause them to quit their job during the first five years of the profession. The teaching education process has an important role in making the teacher candidates have a realistic point of view (Ronnes and Smith, 2010).

As Table 4 demonstrates, undergraduate students were of the opinion that the teaching profession has more freedom when compared with the other pre-service teachers. The other pre-service teachers participating in the master’s program without thesis and the teacher formation program agreed less with this statement. The opinions about the teacher formation program and the master’s program without thesis are presented in Table 5.

As can be seen in Table 5, the pre-service teachers were of the general opinion that participating in the program was exciting, that they needed this program to improve their professional self-confidence, and that they were willing to complete the program to be better at the art of teaching. The motivations for the education process in the teaching  programs effect the teaching commitment and the intent to start the profession of teaching (Rots et al., 2010). Teaching experiences are among the very important motivations to start the profession (Manuel and Huges, 2006). Motives are related to the perceptions of the quality of the teacher-training program and the quality of the teachers' early classroom teaching experiences (Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010). Prior teaching and learning experiences are highly rated motivation factors (Öztürk, 2010). It shows that the teachers starting the profession quit in the first year significantly (attrition rate) (Ronnes and Smith, 2010). Positive experiences, especially the experiences in the first years of the profession are important for the future careers of the teachers.

However, there are some differences of opinion observed between the participating groups:

1. The undergraduate students found the program more exciting when compared with the other participating groups. In other words, excitement is gradually decreasing.

2. The students attending the Faculty of Science and Letters had a greater need for the program to improve their self-confidence in the profession.

3. The graduate students and students attending the master’s program were looking forward to courses with less excitement.

4. The undergraduate students appeared to be more willing to learn and teach.

The participants in the study were asked open-ended questions regarding the most impressive and challenging aspects of the master’s program without the thesis and formation program. Selected excerpts from the responses to the “most impressive aspect” question  are  as  follows:

Student X. “…having my first professional experience during my participation in the master’s program without thesis is quite impressive...”

Student Y. “…I attach great importance to this program to be a good educator…”

Student Z. “…It is enjoyable to know that I will be a teacher and this is a program where I can gain some experience in being a teacher...”

Student G. “…I think that acquiring professional knowledge and experience is the most impressive side of the program…”

The overall responses of the participants to the open-ended question “What is the most impressive aspect of the master’s program without thesis or formation program?” are summarized next.

Master’s Program without Thesis

For 37 students (37%) from the master’s program without thesis, the most impressive side of the program was its contribution to professional development through the knowledge and experiences provided in the program. Another important aspect of the program for 12 students (12%) was gaining teaching skills and knowledge about teaching methods. Regarding the applied methods, 10 of them (10%) found the opportunity to participate in teaching practice as the most impressive side of the program.

Graduate Students

The  graduate  students  in  the   program   reported  their opinions to the same questions about their formation program, and these opinions were evaluated. Of these students, 16 gave responses to the question “What is the most impressive aspect of the program?” When the responses of the students were analyzed, it was found that six (38%) of the pre-service teachers thought that teaching practice applications were the most impressive, and three pre-service teachers (19%) felt that its being the first step in their teaching career was the most impressive side of the program.

Undergraduate Students

The undergraduate students participating in the formation program reported a total of 20 impressive sides of the program. Five of them (25%) stated that its being the first step in their teaching career was the most impressive. In addition, four students (20%) reported that teaching practice applications were the most impressive side of the program and three (15%) reported that their being enjoyable was the most impressive.

As can be seen from these findings, the pre-service teachers continued to give varied responses based on academic level. According to the pre-service teachers attending the master’s program without thesis, the most impressive side of the program was the professional development and experiences. According to the graduate students attending the teacher formation program, the teaching practice applications were the most impressive. According to the undergraduate students attending the teacher formation program, the most impressive side of the program was their becoming more familiar with the profession of teaching. Thus, the pre-service teachers attending the master’s program without thesis attached greater importance to professional experience and development than the other pre-service teachers.

The pre-service teachers also gave responses to the open-ended question “What is the most challenging aspect of the program you are attending?” Overall, 102 students attending the master’s program without thesis stated their opinions, and some excerpts from their responses are as follows:

Student A. “ … Learning how to deal with students and methods to be used in teaching is good but it is a bit time-consuming and I think it is a highly intensive program…”

Student B. “… after completing undergraduate education, it is difficult to go on studying for a year, I think it is a waste of time. This program puts off commencing my professional career…”

Student D. “…some of the courses could have been given to us during our undergraduate education. Almost all of the students are coming from other cities; hence, attending the program is quite expensive for some of us…”

Student F. “…  It  is  necessary  to  complete the master’s program without thesis but I think the timing is problematic. It is time for us to take up a career, but we are still students.”

Out of the students attending the master’s program without thesis, 22 students (24%) thought that the number of the course hours and inappropriate timing were important problems. Other challenges were continued study for one additional year and it being a difficult process (n = 18, 18%), being unfamiliar with the courses (n = 11, 11%) and the difficulty in studying due to financial problems (n = 7, 7%).

Nineteen of the graduate students attending the formation program gave negative responses. The most important challenges reported by the students were the high number of the course hours (n = 5, 26%), economic difficulties (n = 5, 26%), and difficulty of the courses (n = 3, 16%).

Among the undergraduate students, 20 students attending the formation program reported opinions about the difficulty of continuing in the program. Out of these students, nine (45%) thought that the high number of courses was the most difficult side of the program. Economic difficulties were considered the most difficult problem by four students (20%).

In short, to the question “What is the most difficult side of the program?” the response of the students from the master’s program without thesis was the heavy course load and the long time period it required. The response of the students from the formation program was that they had to study for one more year. The graduate students attending the formation program also viewed the heavy course load and economic problems as the most challenging sides of the formation program. In general, the long time period required of the programs and individual economic problems seemed to be the common obstacles encountered by the students. Moreover, the graduate and undergraduate students found the methods and techniques used in the formation programs to be different from the ones used in their academic courses in the Faculty of Science and Letters-which led to adaptation problems on the part of the students.

The motivation sources of pre-service teachers may vary from country to country and from subject area to subject area. The participants of the present study seemed to be interested in the teaching profession chiefly due to intrinsic and altruistic orientations. The sources of motivation in deciding to become a teacher are summarized in the studies mentioned next.

Roness and Smith (2009) while carrying out a study with samplings from Norway found that the most important sources of motivation in the profession of teaching were a desire to make contributions to the development of society, to have a job, to work with young people, and wanting to work in one’s subject area. Sinclair (2008) conducted a study in Australia and found that student teachers are statistically significantly more motivated to be teachers by intrinsic motivations than extrinsic motivations. The motivations with the highest mean scores at both times were working with children, intellectual stimulation, and self-evaluation (all intrinsic motivations). In German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland), teachers’ motivation studies consistently show that generally, intrinsic motivations dominate (Johannes and Rothland, 2012). In America, it is seen that though the wage and status of the profession is low, pre-service teachers feel motivated to enter the profession mostly due to altruistic reasons (Lin et al., 2012). The extrinsic motivations with the highest mean scores at both times were the nature of the teaching profession, perceived working conditions and perceived life-fit. Papanastosiao and Papanastosiao (1997) conducted a study in Cyprus and found that the most important factors leading people to the teaching profession were external factors such as having a stable and permanent job. In another study, Holm (1977, 1989) (samples from Scandinavia and Sweden) reported that internal factors were more influential than external factors (cited in Roness and Smith, 2009). Kyriocou et al. (1999) conducted a study with samplings from England and Norway, and they reported that the outstanding sources of motivation were liking the subject area to be taught and working with children. In an English sampling, however, the desire to be extremely successful was found to be a more effective motivator than working with children. In a Norwegian sampling, long holidays and a great amount of social time were found to be more effective motivators than the subject area and working with children. In their study with Australian participants, Williams and Forgasz (2009) reported that important sources of motivation were making contributions as a good teacher, satisfaction derived from the profession of teaching, the desire to work with children and to help society improve, and belief in the capacity of being a good role model. In the study looking at the reasons for making changes in the advanced stages of a teaching career, it was found that intrinsic and altruistic motivation were more influential than external rewards (Williams and Forgasz, 2009). Highly intrinsically motivated pre-service teachers may use opportunities to learn during teacher education more intensively, spend more time on learning objects related to the teaching profession, and, thus, show higher learning and achievement motivation, positively affecting teacher education outcomes (Johannes and Rothland, 2012). Pre-service teachers with intrinsic adaptive motives were more positive about the quality of the teacher training program and about their experiences in the program (Sinclair et al., 2006, 1138). Intrinsic motivation of pre-service teachers makes a stronger contribution   to meaningful  learning  and academic achievement (Doménech-Betoret and Gómez-Artiga, 2013).

Teachers who have internal motivation for the profession of teaching are satisfied with their profession more than the ones without it. Internal motivations like the desire to become a teacher are important for the positive relations in the teaching career (Liu and Onwegbuzie, 2014, 88). There are relationships between the internal motivations, which are the important sources of motivation and the perception of a talent for teaching, and learning experiences (Watt et al., 2012). From this point of view, internal motivations are as valuable as the real form of the motivations (noble form). Someone who has internal motivations has a better process of learning (smooter) when compared to someone who has external motivations (Devi, 1995, cited in Ronnes and Smith, 2010, 170).

The difficulty of the teaching profession and the attrition caused by the profession can cause the teachers to quit when these factors come together with low motivation. Motivations and the intent to stay in the profession are inclined to decrease with the negative experiences of the teacher (Ronnes and Smith, 2010). Experiences in the teaching education program have an important source of motivation in choosing and sustaining the profession of teaching. Rots et al. (2010) indicate that the teaching education process in the teachers' education programs influenced teaching commitment and this situation has an important effect in the intent of starting the teaching job, in their studies. Moreover, there are meaningful relationships between the internal motivation for teaching and preparation for teaching education, loyalty to the profession of teaching and the support of the faculty and mentors. Intrinsic adaptive motives are positively related to the quality of the teacher training program and the classroom teaching experiences. There are relationships also between the positive perception for the teaching education program and the teaching experiences and this situation is effective in the decision for staying at the profession (Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010).

When compared with teachers in other OECD countries, teachers seem to be highly disadvantaged in terms of their wages, and the teaching profession takes the eighth place out of thirteen professions (UBS, 2003; OECD, 2003). However, among the sources of motivation toward the profession of teaching, internal and altruistic sources of motivation were found to be more widely reported in the Turkish sampling than external sources of motivation.

Teachers in Turkey where the altruistic-type social utility values are the most influential are the subjects of our study. Highest rated motivations for teaching in the Turkish sample were Social utility values followed by the desire for a secure job. Intrinsic values and perceived teaching abilities come next (K?l?nç et al., 2012). In another study done in Turkey, results showed that the social and personal utility values were the highly rated motivation factors. In addition to the perceptions and status of teaching profession in the Turkish society, findings also revealed the strong influence of social and cultural contexts on how participants developed their motivation in choosing teaching where individuals are encouraged toward conformity by their parents, family and larger social groups (Öztürk, 2012). The findings of the study reveal that male and female student teachers have similar motives in choosing teaching as a profession in Malaysia. Generally, both groups emphasize altruistic and extrinsic factors (Azman, 2013). The existence of the internal motivation for the teachers to choose the profession of teaching in spite of some negative experiences in terms of economics can be explained with the internal and social motives for choosing the profession.

Though their numbers were very small, some pre-service teachers in the present study stated that they became involved in the profession of teaching incidentally. This finding correlates with that of Roness and Smith (2009). In the present study, 19-25% of the participants were found to be undecided about being in the profession of teaching. The effects of teacher training programs on this uncertainty may be worth studying. Roness and Smith (2009) revealed that 50% of the pre-service teachers attending a PGCE course in Norway attend this course to be able to enter another profession besides teaching. The main source of motivation for the participants was found to be the desire to teach academic issues to their children.

Some studies mentioned next show that positive experiences and perceptions with regard to one’s subject area and the teaching of it can be important sources of motivation in deciding to engage in the profession. Andrews and Hatch (2010) carried out a study with pre-service math teachers and found that as a learner, the experiences lived in math study and the desire to work with other people can be important sources of motivation to become a math teacher. In the study, 37% of the participants stated that they decided to engage in the field of math, as they liked math activities when they were students. The basic factor researched here was “I like my subject area and I want to share my knowledge about it with others.”   Enjoyment in the subject - (69%) and the desire for working with young people (65%) are regarded as important factors for choosing teaching education courses (Manuel and Huges, 2006). In their study, Andrews and Hatch (2010) reported that nice experiences in the subject area were more influential in deciding to join the profession than the other factors. Caires and Almeida (2005) found that the efficacy of coping with teaching practices resulted in high levels of self-confidence and job satisfaction. Teaching experiences are considered an important factor affecting the decision to enter the profession of teaching (Sinclair, 2008). Attending the course with experienced teachers and pre-service teachers who have positive experiences will be important. Moreover, motivations will be important in the design of the course. Orhan (2008) reported that the application of self-regulatory strategies within Teaching Practice course instruction helps students improve their motivational perception. Studies on the relationship between specific aspects of teaching practices and student motivation have been scarce. Results of the multi-level analyses show that connection to the students’ world and co-operative learning methods had a positive effect on students’ motivation (Erik et al., 2011).

In the present study, the students emphasized the importance of teaching practices. Particularly, undergraduate students from the Faculty of Science and Letters attached greater importance to these practices.

Therefore, the quality of teaching practice applications carried out in education faculties may help pre-service teachers gain a clear professional identity. In Turkey, the source of the teacher education is a hotly debated issue. For example, who should educate teachers, Education Faculties? or some other sources? There is some evidence showing that the teachers coming from sources other than education faculties see the profession of teaching just as an alternative; hence, they may want to enter the profession. On the other hand, one of the basic sources of motivation for pre-service teachers coming from sources other than education faculties can be the love for their subject area and opportunities to be found to conduct applications related to their disciplines when they become teachers. Another study reported that love for mathematics and geometry takes the first place among the reasons that pre-service teachers select the mathematics teaching department (Tataro?lu et al., 2011). Boz and Boz (2008) found that love for teachers and the teaching profession is one of the most important factors leading pre-service teachers to the profession. Love for the disciplines of chemistry and mathematics is among the important reasons for selecting the teaching profession. Karamustafao?lu and Özmen (2004) found that the quality of the courses given to the students attending “the without thesis master program” at an education faculty for a one and a half year period resulted in changes in the opinions and attitudes of pre-service teachers. Motivating attitudes of the faculty members toward the profession, the use of discussions rather than lecturing in the courses, more emphasis placed on practice rather than theory, and tasting the pleasure of teaching at schools in Teaching Practice courses are viewed the most important causes of these changes. In this regard, the effectiveness of teacher training programs can significantly affect the motivation of pre-service teachers. Therefore, incorporating activities that enhance motivation for entrance to the teaching profession into teacher education programs may have some contributions to the improvement of profession-related motivation of pre-service teachers.

The sources of motivation for pre-service teachers studying at Education faculties are not in the scope of the present study. Based on the results of this study, among pre-service teachers from the faculties of Science and Letters in Turkey, subject area knowledge and the desire to teach this knowledge seem to be important sources of motivation for becoming professional teachers. Both their subjects of study and their teaching experiences motivate the teacher candidates in our study sample. Teachers being interested in their subjects of study and the internal motives for the profession are important sources of motivation (Roness, 2011). The positive experiences of the teacher candidates during the time they teach their subjects and working with students can be important reasons for them to enjoy teaching and this situation can be an important reason for them to choose the profession of teaching. Moreover, the teacher candidates can feel confident about themselves at the end of the course in the teaching education (Ronnes and Smith, 2010). In this study, the positive teaching experiences of the graduates from the faculties of science and letters and their enthusiasm for teaching the subjects in their fields are important sources of motivation for the profession of teaching. This may suggest that although the source faculty for teacher training is important, the quality of instruction is more important than the source.

The author has not declared any conflict of interests.

Some part of the study was presented as an oral presentation in 1^st International Curriculum and Instruction Congress, Anatolian University, Eskisehir- Turkey.