The Predictive Role of Reasons for Choosing the Teaching Profession as a Career on the Educational Beliefs of Teachers

In this study it was aimed to determine the predictive role of reasons for choosing teaching profession as a career on educational beliefs of teachers from different branches working at the secondary school level. In this respect, the study was designed as a relational survey study. In the study, data were obtained using the “Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career Scale” and the “Educational Belief Scale”. The participants of the study were 414 teachers working in different secondary schools in Ankara, Hatay, Elazig and Canakkale provinces. Convenience sampling method was used to determine the sample of the study. The correlation analysis was conducted between the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the “choosing teaching profession as a career scale” and the sub-dimensions of the “educational belief scale”. Multivariate regression analysis was conducted using STATA packet program to determine the predictive role of the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of “choosing teaching profession as a career scale” on the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the “educational belief scale”. In conclusion, significant relationships were obtained between choosing the teaching profession due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons, extrinsic reasons and influence of others and educational beliefs of the teachers.


Introduction
Profession has the power to determine individuals' personalities, lifestyles, social status, earnings, and social relationships and is an essential factor to sustain life (Jones & Larke, 2005). The characteristics of a profession have great influence on individuals' living standards, future plans (Yanıkkerem, Altınparmak & Karadeniz, 2004); income levels, the structure of the work they will do, and accordingly their characters and human relations (Kazi & Akhlaq, 2017). Therefore, it can be said that the profession choice is regarded as the most important turning point in an individual's life, and it serves as the most important and distinctive aspect of life. As a result, the profession choice has a lasting impact on individuals.
The profession choice is defined as the selection of a career according to the perceived ability. In this process, decisions of the individuals affect an individual's life-style more than any other choices he/she makes (Baloch & Shah, 2014). Özpancar, Aydın and Akansel (2008) defined the choice of profession as the orientation of the individual to the field that includes the tasks which are most suitable and the best alternative for him/her, and which will provide the highest level of satisfaction for the individual. According to Barutçigil (2004), the choice of profession includes all efforts of individuals to evaluate and develop career opportunities according to their skills, abilities, experiences and interests.
Although all professions have different characteristics and value, teaching profession has always been accepted as an important factor determining the development level of the countries. When considering the rapid changes in the world, global competition and cooperation have increased and education has become the main factor in the development and progress of societies (Pheeraphan, 2013). Within this context, raising qualified individuals has become essential for the existence of societies and countries (Güleçen, Cüro & Semerci, 2008). Teachers are indispensable part of the education system. No matter how well the instructional and educational objectives are established, it is not possible to achieve the desired outcomes in the education system without teachers (Sünbül, 2001). Similarly, Özbek (2007) stated that teachers are one of the most important factors in teaching process in terms of achieving the desired educational purposes. On the other hand, they help prepare the next generation by teaching the children (Dündar, 2014). As a result, raising qualified teachers are required in terms of some aspects. For example, attributes of highly qualified teachers such as verbal ability and content knowledge can lead to student achievement and qualified learning environments.
The reasons to choose the teaching profession is generally divided into three groups as extrinsic, intrinsic and altruistic motives (Bergmark, Lundström, Manderstedt & Palo, 2018). Extrinsic motives include the aspects such as working conditions, salary or status. Intrinsic motives encompass the inherent aspects of the profession such as passion for teaching, subject knowledge and expertise (Azman, 2013). On the other hand, altruistic motives require considering teaching profession as an important and valuable profession and give importance to children's development and society's development (Watt et al., 2012). Accordingly, Sinclair (2008) claimed that the motives to choose the teaching profession can be described as a mixture of these three categories. On the other hand, Struyven, Jacobs and Dochy (2013) emphasized that there should be a balance between the motives for teaching profession and altruistic and intrinsic motives should be considered as the main motivators, and extrinsic motives should be considered as complementary.
Pedagogical motives for choosing the teaching profession have been regarded as an important indicator of teacher potential (Löfström et al. 2010). It is concluded that school improvement efforts are mostly related to the interest of teachers. When the teachers have higher degree of motivation, their performance will be high (Khan, 2014). In addition, Brumback (1986) found that the performance of the teachers with high job satisfaction was significantly higher than the teachers with lower job satisfaction. On the other hand, it is a common view that when teachers are more effective, students learn better and there is an increase in the growth of student learning (Burroughs et al., 2019). Therefore, it can be concluded that the motives of the teachers for choosing teaching profession influence their teaching performance and teaching style. Within this context, educational beliefs of teachers are considered as one of the factors which can be related to the teaching profession choice of the teacher.
Educational beliefs are one of the important variables that affect teachers to implement programs functionally, to fulfill their roles and responsibilities and to display classroom behaviors that improve learning and thinking (Tunca, Alkın-Şahin & Oğuz, 2015). In addition to the teachers' knowledge and skills related to the teaching profession, their attitudes towards education, their beliefs and the steps to be taken in this direction significantly affect the quality of education at every stage. Educational beliefs express the perspective and the philosophy of an individual about teaching and learning (Haney, Lumpe & Czerniak, 2003). It is stated that the educational beliefs of an individual are determined mainly by the educational philosophy (Pajares, 1992). In this case, educational beliefs of teacher are shaped according to the educational philosophy adopted and reflected on the teacher's behavior in the classroom. In other words, the education philosophy of a teacher, that is, what beliefs he/she has is also an indication of the teaching style of him/her (Oğuz, Altınkurt, Yılmaz & Hatipoğlu 2014). The educational philosophies used to define educational beliefs are generally grouped as perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, re-constructionism and existentialism.
Firstly, perennialism is seen as the most inflexible, traditionalist and conservative among educational trends. It considers that the reality is the basic, core and universal character of the man. Therefore, education should be based on universally unchangeable values, facts and principles (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2009). According to essentialism, human minds are empty when they were born. Individuals learn all information later. Therefore, education system is based on the basic elements of human culture, skills, knowledge and event. Teachers must be expert in the subject area. Students are responsible for learning and have no knowledge and skills and are expected to memorize, do, and repeat without rejection (Ergün, 2012). As for progressivism, it focuses on the change and rejects constant and universal truths. Education is considered as a process in which all the experiences are constantly changing. Besides, individual differences are taken into consideration. As a result, students' interest and abilities must be considered (Demirel, 2007;Sönmez, 2002). In re-constructionism, problem-solving and trial-error are the core elements of learning. Classroom environment is democratic and punishment is thus avoided and the cultural differences are given importance (Demirel, 2007;Ergün, 2012). Lastly; regarding existentialism, knowledge is obtained through intuitions. The value of the information is determined personally. Therefore, students should have the freedom to choose the lesson they want and to leave the classes any time they want (Varış, 1994).
As seen, each educational philosophy has different principles, rules and the assumptions. Therefore, the educational beliefs of teachers will directly affect their choices in teaching process. When the literature is examined, it is seen that there are various studies (e.g., Dündar, 2014) on the reasons for choosing teaching profession as a career and their educational beliefs. However, it is determined that there are almost no researches examining the role of choosing teaching profession as a career in predicting the perspective, belief and philosophical orientation of teachers about education. Based on this data, this research is important and necessary to fill a gap in the literature. The purpose of the present study is to determine the predictive role of reasons to choose the teaching profession as a career on educational beliefs of teachers. It is thought that great contribution can be made to the literature by the obtained data and the findings can shed light to the future researchers. It is possible to state that philosophy of education adopted by teachers and reasons for choosing teaching profession occupy a great place in the formation of effective teaching and learning environments and to help preservice teachers guide their decision to choose teaching profession and increase their awareness level.

Method
In the present study the predictive role of the reasons for choosing teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs of teachers from different branches working at secondary school level was investigated. In this respect, the study was designed as a relational survey study (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012). Relational survey model researches based on the interaction of variables also contribute to science by providing a perspective to possible prospective research. The selection of the method as descriptive-based relational comparison restricts the interpretation of a causal effect even if there are possible relationships and interactions among variables.

Data Collection Tools
In the study, data were obtained using the "Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career Scale" and the "Educational Belief Scale". The "Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career Scale" was originally developed by Lai, Chan, Ko and So (2005) and adopted to Turkish language by Balyer and Özcan (2014). The adopted version of the scale consists of 20 items and three sub-dimensions. The first sub-dimension is altruistic-intrinsic reasons (items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) and the Cronbach alpha reliability score of this sub-dimension was obtained as 0.91. The second sub-dimension is called as extrinsic reasons (items 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17) and the Cronbach alpha reliability score was obtained as 0.80 for this sub-dimension. The third subdimension is called as influence of others (items 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22) and the Cronbach alpha reliability score was obtained as 0.74 for this sub-dimension. The adaptation study was carried out using the data obtained from 220 student teachers, and the validity and reliability studies were carried out on this sample. CFA results were found as X 2 /sd=2,3, GFI=0,90, AGFI=0,80, NFI=0,95, NNFI=0,95, CFI=0,92, RMR=0,10, RMSEA=0,08, SRMR=0,09. It was proved by Toraman (2019) that the "Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career Scale" adapted to Turkish by Balyer and Özcan (2014) was a valid and reliable instrument for secondary school teachers. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis conducted on 321 secondary school teachers, the fit indices were obtained as RMSEA=0.077, RMR=0.022, GFI=0.951, AGFI=0.904, NFI=0.911, IFI=0.918, CFI=0.956, X 2 / sd=2.87. The reliability coefficients were determined as 0.89 for the altruistic-intrinsic reasons sub-dimension, 0.77 for the extrinsic reasons sub-dimension, and 0.76 for the influence of others sub-dimension for the study on teachers sample. "Educational Belief Scale" was developed by Yilmaz, Altinkurt and Cokluk (2011). The scale determines the educational beliefs shaped by the educational philosophies of the teachers. The scale consists of 5 sub-scales and 40 items. The sub-dimensions of the scale are as; a) progressivism (items 1-13), b) existentialism (items 14-20), c) re-constructionism (items 21-27), d) perennialism (items 28-35) and e) essentialism (items 36-40).

Sample of the Study
The study was carried out with teachers from different branches working at various secondary school levels in Ankara, Hatay, Elazig and Canakkale provinces. These provinces were determined with the aim of obtaining data by the researchers easily. In this respect, convenience sampling method was used to determine the sample of the study. In convenience sampling methods, some factors such as accessibility, geographical proximity, availability at a given time, or the willingness to participate are considered in determining the members of the target population (Dornyei, 2007). The distribution of the secondary school teachers in the sample according to certain variables is given in Table 1. As can be seen in the Table 1, the majority of the teachers participating in the study works in Ankara province. Ankara province has a high population density and a high number of teachers and schools. For this reason, most teachers were from this province. The majority of teachers are female. In Turkey, females choose the teaching profession more than the males. The majority of the teachers in the sample group have 11-20 years of work experience. The provinces where the study was conducted are among the developed and large provinces in Turkey. In Turkey, the newly graduated teachers start working in generally smaller and less developed provinces and as the work experience increases, they start working in big provinces. When considered in this context, it is possible to understand the role of work experience variable for the teachers in the sample. In terms of branch variable, teachers are mostly grouped in Turkish, mathematics and science branches. These are the branches that are more intense in the curriculum in Turkey and therefore the teachers of these branches are more employed in secondary schools. As a result, the higher number of the teachers from these branches is an expected result.

Procedure
The researchers conducted the study face to face with the secondary school teachers. Teachers were informed about the application in the teachers' room. It was stated that data to be obtained would be used only in a scientific research. Scales were applied to volunteer teachers in 10-15 minutes. Scales were collected by researchers and secured.

Data Analysis
In the study, it was examined whether there was missing value in the dataset. As a result, it was determined that there is no missing value. The predictive role of reasons for choosing teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs of teachers from different branches working at secondary school level was examined. Therefore, multivariate regression analysis was used. The total scores obtained from three sub-dimensions of the "choosing teaching profession as a career scale" were included as predictors. The scores obtained from five subdimensions of the "educational belief scale" were included as predicted variable. Multivariate regression analysis is a parametric analysis. In order to perform this analysis, the total scores of the five sub-dimensions of the "educational belief scale", which is the predicted variable, is required to have a multivariate normal distribution. As a result of multivariate normal distribution test performed using STATA, it was determined that the data did not show a normal distribution (p<.05).
The normality tests are highly sensitive tests (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013;p. 78-83). In addition, in many studies (especially in social sciences), measurements of dependent variables do not show normal distribution (Pallant, 2016). The Central Limit Theorem suggests that if the sample is large enough (n=30+), regardless of the distribution of the variables, the sampling distribution will show a normal distribution, and the violation of the normality assumption will not cause a major problem (Everitt & Howell, 2005, p. 249;Field, 2018;Pallant, 2016;Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013). In large samples, skewness does not deviate significantly from normal. Positive skewness disappears in sample sizes greater than 100, and negative skewness disappears in sample sizes greater than 200 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013;p. 78-83). Based on this information, it was found appropriate to apply multivariate normal distribution test.
In the current study, the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the "choosing teaching profession as a career scale" and its three subscales was found to be between 0.723 and 0.911. Also, the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the "educational belief scale" and its five subscales was found between 0.821 and 0.902.
The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was calculated between the scores received in both scales used in the study. Multivariate regression was used to test the following formulas within the predictive level of reasons for choosing teaching profession as a career on educational beliefs of teachers.
In regression analysis, the reasons for choosing teaching profession were determined as predictor variables; educational beliefs are determined as explained variables. Multivariate regression analyzes the five formulas written above. In the multivariate regression analysis, autocorrelation and variance influence factor (VIF) were examined between predictor variables. Multivariate regression analysis was applied because the values were determined at the appropriate level.

Findings
In this section, findings obtained from the correlation analysis conducted between the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the "choosing teaching profession as a career scale" and the sub-dimensions of the "educational belief scale''; multivariate regression analysis conducted to determine the predictive role of the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of "choosing teaching profession as a career" on the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the "educational belief scale" and estimations for the significant regression equations are presented. IJCER (International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research)

The Relationship between Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career and Educational Beliefs of Teachers
The correlation analysis was conducted between the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the "choosing teaching profession as a career scale" and the sub-dimensions of the "educational belief scale". The results are given in Table 2. When the Table 2 is examined, it can be stated that there is a negative, low level and significant relationship (r= -0.193, p<.05); between choosing teaching profession as a career due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons and progressivism; a positive, high level and significant relationship (r= 0.850, p<.05) between choosing teaching profession as a career due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons and re-constructionism; and a positive, high level and significant relationship (r= 0.839, p<.05) between choosing teaching profession due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons and essentialism.
On the other hand, a positive, medium level and significant relationship (r= 0.608, p<.05) was obtained between choosing teaching profession as a career based on extrinsic reasons and progressivism. On the contrary, a negative, low level and significant relationship (r= -0.234, p<.05) was obtained between extrinsic reasons and re-constructionism. Similarly, a negative, medium level and significant relationship (r= -0.369, p<.05) was obtained between extrinsic reasons and essentialism. When the relationship between choosing teaching profession under the influence of others and the educational beliefs of teachers was examined, a positive, low level and significant relationship (r= 0.146, p<.05) was obtained only in terms of perennialism.

The Predictive Role of Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career on Educational Beliefs
The predictive role of the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of "choosing teaching profession as a career scale" on the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the "educational belief scale" was examined. For this purpose, multivariate regression analysis was conducted using STATA packet program. The compatibility of the multivariate regression analysis is presented in Table 3. The model was established to determine whether choosing teaching profession as a career due to altruisticintrinsic reasons, extrinsic reasons and influence of others predicted the progressivism, re-constructionism and essentialism. As can be seen in Table 3, the established models are significant (F=81.668, F=366.976, F=380.255, p<.05).
Regression models established for progressive, re-constructionist and essentialist output variables were determined to be appropriate. The variable with the highest explanatory rate was found as essentialism (R2=0.736, %74), which was followed by re-constructionism (R2=0.729, %73) and lastly progressivism (R2=0.374, %37). On the other hand, existentialism and perennialism were found to be insignificant (p>.05). Estimations for the significant regression equations are given in Table 4. As can be seen in Table 4, the findings on the predictive role of choosing the teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs of teachers, it was found that extrinsic reasons was a positive and significant predictor of progressivism (p<.05). On the other hand, the findings on the predictive role of choosing the teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs, altruistic-intrinsic and influences of other variables were found to predict re-constructionism positively (p<.05). On the contrary, choosing the teaching profession as a career due to extrinsic reasons variable was found to be a negative and significant predictor of re-constructionism (p<.05). The findings on the predictive role of choosing the teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs of teachers showed that altruistic-intrinsic reasons was a positive and significant predictor of essentialism (p<.05), and extrinsic reasons was a negative and significant predictor of essentialism (p<.05). The reason for choosing teaching profession by being influenced by others is a positive meaningful predictor of perennialism (p<.05).

Results and Discussion
In this study, it was aimed to determine the predictive role of reasons to choose the teaching profession as a career on the educational beliefs of teachers. In line with the first sub-problem of the study, the relationship between the reasons to choose the teaching profession as a career and educational beliefs of teachers was examined. As a result of correlation analysis, it was obtained that there was a negative, low level and significant relationship (r= -0.193, p<.05) between choosing the teaching profession as a career due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons and progressivism. On the other hand, there was a positive, high level and significant relationship (r= 0.850, p<.05) between altruistic-intrinsic reasons and re-constructionism; and positive, high level and significant relationship (r= 0.839, p<.05) between altruistic-intrinsic reasons and essentialism. Therefore, it can be concluded that when teachers choose teaching profession due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons, their beliefs in progressive education will decrease while their beliefs in re-constructionism and essentialism will increase significantly. In altruistic-intrinsic reasons, teachers choose the teaching profession since they consider teaching as a socially worthwhile and important job. On the other hand, altruistic-intrinsic reasons cover aspects such as the desire to work with children and to make a difference in their life (Spear, Gould & Lee, 2000). In addition, it is stated that people who choose teaching profession as a career based on altruistic reasons enjoy teaching something to others, feel happy since they believe that they will play a role in the future of students and enjoy spending time with students (Akıllı & Keskin, 2016). Similarly, the advocates of re-constructivism believe that they can change the individual, the society and make it better through education. On the other hand, the advocates of essentialism consider education as a serious task; it has certain disciplines (geometry, mathematics, geography, etc.). In addition, in essentialism, hard work and discipline are at the core of teaching. Education is hard and challenging work. Therefore, it requires discipline and effort. Therefore, the teacher and his authority are at the center of education (Ergun, 2012). At this point, it can be argued that teachers who choose teaching profession based on altruistic-intrinsic reasons try to improve society and children, they want to have role in the society, and therefore their beliefs in re-constructionism and essentialism are higher. In the literature, in various studies (Chan, 1998;Johnston, McKeown & McEwen, 1999;Thornton, Bricheno & Reid, 2002;Saban, 2003;Ozsoy, Ozsoy, Ozkara & Memis, 2010;Topkaya & Uztosun, 2012) altruistic reasons such as helping students, making contribution to people/society and working with children were more influential in choosing the teaching profession. In their study Tunca, Şahin and Oğuz (2015) found medium level and positive significant correlation between teachers' professional values and educational beliefs. Polat (2013) obtained a positive and significant relationship between attitudes towards teaching profession and choosing the teaching profession.
On the other hand, a positive, medium level and significant relationship (r= 0.608, p<.05) was obtained between choosing the teaching profession based on extrinsic reasons and progressivism. Based on this finding, it can be argued that when teachers choose teaching profession due to factors such as level of pay, holidays, job security or status, their beliefs in progressivism will increase at medium level significantly. On the contrary, a negative, low level and significant relationship (r= -0.234, p<.05) was obtained between extrinsic reasons and reconstructionism. Therefore, it can be concluded that teachers who choose teaching profession due to extrinsic reasons will have negative attitudes towards re-constructionism, and when they choose the profession due to extrinsic reasons, their beliefs in re-constructionism will decrease at low level. In re-constructionism, the primary aim of the education is considered as reorganizing the society and creating a world community with common values. Moreover, the future of the society is focused on the educational programs (Yayla, 2009). As a result, it can be stated that when teachers choose this profession with extrinsic reasons, they do not focus on the problems in the society. Similarly, a negative, medium level and significant relationship (r= -0.369, p<.05) was obtained between extrinsic reasons and essentialism. Therefore, it can be said that when teachers choose the profession due to extrinsic reasons, their beliefs in essentialism will decrease. As a conclusion, the educational beliefs of the teachers who choose the profession due to altruistic-intrinsic reasons showed a reverse direction with the educational beliefs of teachers who choose this profession due to the extrinsic reasons. Extrinsic reasons cover the aspects such as money, status, etc. Therefore, it can be argued that progressive education has a pragmatist role for these teachers.
When the relationship between choosing the teaching profession under the influence of others and the educational beliefs of teachers was examined, a positive, low level and significant relationship (r= 0.146, p<.05) was obtained only in terms of perennialism educational philosophy. When teachers choose teaching profession under the influence of others, they are influenced by their teachers, parents, peers, relatives or friends (Bastick, 2000). On the other hand, in perennialism, students are taught through structures and drills (Bansal, 2015). Fives i Gill (2014) indicated that the choice of being a teacher under social influences such as family, friends, or others can lead to negative teaching styles. Similarly, Butler (2012) when teachers choose the teaching profession by social influences, they respond negatively to students' responses. Therefore, it can be concluded that when teachers choose teaching profession under the influence of others, they have more traditional and inflexible education philosophy.
On the other hand, it was obtained that choosing the teaching profession due to altruistic-intrinsic and influences of other variables were found to predict the re-constructionism positively (p<.05). On the contrary, choosing the teaching profession due to extrinsic reasons variable was found to be a negative and significant predictor of reconstructionism (p<.05). As a result, it can be concluded that when teachers choose this profession as a career mostly under altruistic-intrinsic and influence of others, their beliefs in re-constructionism will increase significantly. On the other hand, when teachers choose the profession due to extrinsic reasons, their beliefs in reconstructionism will decrease significantly. Also, the results showed that choosing teaching profession due to extrinsic reasons was a positive and significant predictor of progressivism (p<.05). Therefore, it can be said that when teachers choose this profession mostly under extrinsic reasons, their beliefs in progressivism will increase significantly.
When the findings on the predictive role of reasons to choose the teaching profession as a career on essentialism, it was found that altruistic-intrinsic reasons was a positive and significant predictor of essentialism (p<.05), and extrinsic reasons was a negative and significant predictor of essentialism (p<.05). As a result, it can be said that when teachers choose this profession mostly under altruistic-intrinsic reasons, their beliefs in essentialism will increase significantly. On the other hand, when teachers choose this profession mostly under extrinsic reasons, their beliefs in essentialism will decrease significantly.
Based on the findings obtained in the study, it is seen that there is a significant relationship between reasons to choose the teaching profession as a career and the educational beliefs of teachers. Being a teacher is not only about teaching. Teachers have various qualifications such as guiding students, making plans on teaching practices, and applying and evaluating these practices in the classroom (Luke, Luke & Mayer, 2000). As a result, the roles of teachers greatly affect the students and students' roles in learning and teaching process (Incik, 2018). Based on these data, it is seen that students should be aware of the responsibilities of the teaching profession and they should consider these responsibilities while deciding to choose this profession since a wrong profession choice can lead to long term failure and disappointment and prevents individuals from being effective, productive and achieving the desired goals in their business lives (Kazi & Akhlaq, 2017). As a result, giving the correct decisions on profession choice has significant value.
On the other hand, philosophy of education has a great role in making decisions related to the educational programs (Doğanay & Sarı, 2003). In addition, philosophy of education influences the selection and interpretation of the goals, organizing, presenting and teaching process of the content, and decisions on how to evaluate the success of the programs (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2009). Therefore, teachers' educational beliefs directly influence their decisions and applications in the teaching process and classroom environment.
It can be suggested that an elaboration of these quantitative findings with in-depth qualitative research is recommended for future researchers (e.g., case studies of teachers having different reasons for choosing teaching profession and educational beliefs) to contextualise the factors identified as important. Such studies would provide further information concerning teachers' experiences and opinions related to their reasons to choose this profession and educational beliefs.
Research findings of the present study are limited to teachers from different branches working at the secondary school level in four different cities of Turkey. The study was applied in limited sample. Accordingly, further research should be conducted using different universes and samples to increase the generalizability of the results of this study.