A philosophical view of education involves asking questions about the role of education in a society and seeking answers to these questions. Educational philosophy is a discipline or thinking method that provides a point of view for educators. Indeed, an educator’s philosophy impacts perceptions, beliefs, understanding and values to the point where all decisions can be traced back to their educational philosophy. Educational philosophy is arranged into branches of philosophy which can be viewed and recognized as orientations to teaching and education (Ryan, 2008).

It is a fact today that the goal of teacher education programs is to train future educators in such a way as to produce highly qualified individuals who possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions they need to become effective teachers (Dottin, 2009). As Ryan (2008) stated, becoming aware of and making sense of a philosophical stance is important in teacher education. To be brief, perennialism emphases rational thought and democracy with priority, essentialism focusses on core subjects instead of student behavior, progressivism focuses on the development of the whole child both academically and socially, social reconstructionism emphases social justice and equity, existentialism focuses on student choice. The construction of a teaching philosophy within a teacher training program does affect the teaching-learning process (Minor, Onwuegbuzie, Witcher, & James, 2002). Because it is generally believed that understanding one’s philosophical approach would foster evaluation of teaching decisions (Pryor, Sloan & Amobi, 2007). If a teacher attempts to teach with no purpose or aim other than to impart information, the lessons are not cohesive and ultimately impart no functional meaning to the students. A clear understanding of philosophy can help a teacher grow professionally and create a purposeful direction for teaching in the classroom (Ryan, 2008). Hence, determining philosophical dispositions is quite necessary and important for understanding preservice teachers’ and teacher educators’ behavior to create alignment between their philosophical dispositions for the quality of teaching-learning process.

However, researches on philosophical dispositions, beliefs or orientations in education is considerably few (Edlin, 2013; Ryan, 2008; Soccorsi, 2013). Especially some studies were conducted only by teachers (Doganay & Sari, 2003), some were by preservice teachers (Duman & Ulubey, 2008; Ekiz, 2007) but there is a lack of study conducted by teacher educators. That whereas, knowing dispositions of preservice teachers regarding to their educational philosophy will enable teacher educators to make some adjustments on teaching process. As a result of alignment between educational philosophies of preservice teachers and teacher educators will strengthen the quality of teacher education faculties.

Therefore, this study examined the educational philosophy dispositions of preservice teachers and teacher educators. Specifically, the research questions were: (a) what is the most prominent educational philosophy dispositions of pre-service teachers and teacher educators? (b) is there any differences between educational philosophy dispositions of preservice teachers and teacher educators? (c) is there any differences on educational philosophy dispositions of preservice teachers and teacher educators with regard to gender?

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