THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ ACHIEVEMENT GOALS, EARLY TEACHER IDENTITY, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

The aim of the present study is to examine the relationships among prospective teachers’ achievement goals, early teacher identities, and sense of personal responsibility, with the intention of exploring the mediating roles of early teacher identities. based on the correlational method, an explanatory correlational research design was used in the study. a total of 658 prospective teachers from the faculty of education of a large university located in western black sea region of turkey, voluntarily participated in the study during the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. the data were obtained through 3×2 achievement goal questionnaire for teachers, early teacher identity measure, teacher responsibility scale, and good impression scale. correlation and path analyses were conducted to analyze the data in a reliable manner. the results showed that prospective teachers’ achievement goals were indeed multi-dimensional and could be reliably described through the six-factor structure of the 3×2 achievement goal questionnaire for teachers. the results further showed that, regardless of the intervening effects of demographic and control variables, prospective teachers’ achievement goals were significantly and positively related to their early teacher identities, and sense of personal responsibility. more importantly, the results also revealed that prospective teachers’ early teacher identities played significant mediating roles in the relationships between their achievement goals and sense of personal responsibility. implications for teacher education and directions for future studies were also discussed in the study.