An Investigation on the Relationship between Prospective Teachers’ Early Teacher Identity and Their Need for Cognition

Abstract

Investigating the relationship between them can reveal important implications vital for classroom practice in teacher education institutions. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between pre-service teachers’ early teacher identity and their need for cognition. The research data was collected with the sample which consists of 449 students studying at Gaziantep Education Faculty. “Early Teacher Identity Measure (ETIM)” was used to measure pre-service teacher identities of teacher candidates. The data related to the need for cognition were collected by “Need for Cognition Scale (NFCS)”, and the data related to the personal information of the students were gathered by “Personal Information Form”. The relationship between early teacher identity and need for cognition was analysed through a Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and it was found that early teacher identity and need for cognition are two separate but related constructs (r= .62, p<.01). This means that as the level of need for cognition increases, the participants’ early teacher identity scores increase.