Pre-service teachers learn not only a profession but also its language and practice (Koerner, Rust, & Baumgartner, 2002). School experience, in which pre-service teachers add practice on the theoretical knowledge and practical skills, has always been the fundamental part of the teacher education program and the development of pre-service teachers before they started to the actual teaching profession (Beck & Kosnik, 2002; Çelik, 2008; Koerner, et al., 2002; Mclntyre, Byrd, & Fox, 1996). School experience serves as the pre-service teachers initiation into the real life word of the school (Ngidi & Sibaya, 2003), and it is also as a bridge between theory and practice in the learning of teaching (Çelik, 2008; Smith & Lev-Ari, 2005). However, during the school experience period, pre-service teachers may encounter various kinds of conflicts and problems that differ from their theoretical knowledge and previous experiences. Many studies conducted in this area has displayed that pre-service teachers were concerned about practice teaching (Çelik, 2008; Kyriacou & Stephens; 1999;  Mau, 1997; Murray- Harvey, Silins, & Saebel, 1999; Orr, Thompson, Thompson, & Arkansas, 1999). And, they commonly stated that the reasons of the problems of the pre-service teachers stem from disparities between theory and practice, mandated curriculum, classroom management, school policies and inadequate relationships with cooperating teachers or supervisors.

            In this study, we focused on pre-service teachers’ perceptions through attribution theory. Attribution means an individual’s perception or inference of cause (Kelley & Michela, 1980). Identification of attributions is important since “causal thoughts give rise to meaningful actions” (Weiner, 2005). For this aim, we examined pre-service physics teachers’ perceptions of the causes of problems in school experience. Knowing what pre-service teachers attributed the problems in school experience may be helpful to understand the complex structure of problems well. And, the knowledge about the causes of problems may provide crucial information for the improvement of school experiences in the schools since school experience promotes a better understanding of the transition period from student teacher to beginning teacher.

Beck, C., & Kosnik, C. (2002). Components of a good practicum placement: Student teacher perceptions. Teacher Education Quarterly, 81-98. Çelik, M. (2008). Pre-service efl teachers’ reported concerns and stress for practicum in turkey. Education and Science (Eğitim ve Bilim), 33(150), 97-109. Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1980). Attribution theory and research. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 457-501. Koerner, M., Rust, F., & Baumgartner, F. (2002). Exploring roles in student teaching placement. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35-57. Kyriacou, C., & Stephens, P. (1999). 'Student teachers' concerns during teaching Practice. Evaluation & Research in Education, 13(1), 18 – 31. Mau, J. R. (1997). Concerns of student teachers: implications for improving the practicum. Asia- Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 25(1), 53 – 65. McIntyre, J., Byrd. D., & Foxx, S. (1996). Field and laboratory experiences. In J. Sikula (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 171-193). New York: Macmillan. Murray-Harvey, R., Silins, H., & Saebel, J. (1999). A cross-cultural comparison of student concerns in the teaching practicum. International Education Journal, 1(1), 32-44. Ngidi, D. P., & Sibaya, P. T. (2003). Student teachers anxieties related to practice teaching. South African Journal of Education, 23(1), 18-22. Orr, B., Thompson, C., & Thompson, D. E. (1999). Pre-service teachers’ perceived success of classroom management strategies. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 17(1). Smith, K., & Lev-Ari, L. (2005). The place of the practicum in pre-service teacher education: The voice of the students. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33(3), 289-302. Weiner, B. (2005). Social motivation, justice, and the moral emotions: An attributional approach, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.