Abstract

The teaching profession has an important role in the education of a qualified workforce in the development and growth of a country. There are a number of competencies that teachers should have in order to raise future generations as worthy and competent individuals. Anxiety about teachers' competence areas can affect their attitudes and behaviors towards their students negatively. Occupational anxiety is experienced by teachers and pre-service teachers regarding teaching, vocational qualifications, relations with students, parents and colleagues, appointment to the job and finding jobs. Career adaptability, which means perceptions of the ability of individuals to cope with future career barriers, reflects pre-service teachers’ openness to change and career planning orientations. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the levels of occupational anxiety and career adaptability levels of pre-service teachers. The data obtained from the 354 pre-service teachers on the third and the fourth grades in Education Faculty were analyzed. According to research findings, there were a negative relationship between task-oriented anxiety, economic and social oriented anxiety, student / communication oriented anxiety, colleague and parental oriented anxiety, personal development oriented anxiety, appotiment oriented anxiety, class oriented anxiety and career adaptability. In other words, as occupational anxiety levels of pre-service teachers’ increase, their belief regarding their ability of overcoming the problems they may encounter in finding jobs and their career development in the future and adapt to unexpected changes will decrease.