Beliefs of teacher candidates' parents towards teaching as a profession

This study was conducted to explore parents' beliefs towards the teaching profession. the sample consists of 51 parents of teacher candidates in a teacher training institute. a research instrument,using questionnaires,adapted from fit-choice scale,was used to collect data from the population. although the results of this study must be interpreted with caution,the findings indicated that parents,in general,have positive attitudes towards the teaching profession. they perceived teaching as a career highly valued by society. though the teaching job was viewed as difficult and requiring high expertise,the salary received was commensurate with their hard work and heavy workload. in terms of gender,male and female parents did not differ in their beliefs about the teaching profession. however,results indicated that educational attainment and income level had significant effect on parents' beliefs on teaching as a profession. the findings of the study implied that teaching is still perceived as a well respected profession. © universiti putra malaysia press.