Personality and Teaching: An Investigation into Prospective Teachers’ Personality
Muhammad Irfan Arif, Aqeela Rashid, Syeda Samina Tahira, Mahnaz Akhter

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the Big five personality traits of prospective teachers at teacher education institutes of Punjab, Pakistan. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a sample of 100 B.ed level prospective teachers (60 Female & 40 Male) was taken from four public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. Twenty Five prospective teachers from each university were chosen by using convenient sampling technique. The big five inventory (BFI) originally developed by Oliver P. John, (1999) with little modification was distributed among the chosen prospective teachers. This inventory comprised of twenty five statements about Big five personality traits (five statements about each personality trait). Big five personality traits are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness. Collected data was analyzed by using simple descriptive and inferential statistical techniques such as mean and t-test. It was found that the ratio of four personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism) was nearly same, but the ratio of Openness personality trait is greater which means that the openness personality trait of prospective teachers is more dominant as compared to remaining four big personality traits. It was also found that there was a significant difference between male and female prospective teachers on their big five personality traits. Female prospective teachers got greater score on their big five personality trait instrument as compared to male prospective teachers. Findings of this study indicated the quality of teacher education programs in terms of their capability to develop teacher personality. Study enabled researchers to suggest some strategies for development of teachers’ personality teacher personality development to be the part of teacher education programs.

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