ATTITUDES OF TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS TOWARD TEACHERS1

Cognitive dissonance theory implies that teacher education students will optirally internalize and 'lost fully use pedagogidal Iearnings compatible with their attit'ade systems. In order to determine the self- reported attitudes of teacher education students toward teachers, a pilot-study sample of graduate students reacted to four teacher-types-within the context of 36 adjectives. For each adjective, respondents were asked to nark the point on an agree-disagree continuum which best represented their feelings toward statements concerning teachers. This Multiple Teacher Factors Survey (MTFS) indicated that Student attitudes toward four teacher-types might be arrayed along dimensions of a) personal warmth, b) intellectual skill, c) academic rigor., and d) instructional' submissiveness. Respondents ' attitudes toward the teacher-types were also compared. Findings have implications for teacher educators regarding presentation and sequencing of instruction%.1 material, specification of program goals, and validation of program competencies using the parameters of the attitudes which the MTFS measures. (Tables illustrating a variable correlation matrix, item factor loadings and percentages of variance, and teacher-type comparisons are included.) (Author/JS