Relationships between the personal and academic attributes of and affective differences between current and past teacher candidates

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships exist between selected personal and academic attributes of and differences between affective characteristics of a 1980s sample and a 1990s sample of teacher candidates. MANOVA and follow‐up univariate ANOVA procedures identified statistically significant differences between current and past candidates' concerns about the task of teaching, anxieties about teaching, and confidence about becoming teachers. Relationships were found between the affective characteristics and the gender, planned level of teaching, father's educational level, locus of control orientation, prior teaching‐like experiences, scholastic aptitude, and personality types of the candidates.