Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions Regarding the Concept of School

This study aims to find out teacher candidates’ metaphors regarding concept of ‘school’. The study group of the research is composed of 664 teacher candidates who study in the Department of Elementary Education at Faculty of Education, Atatürk University in 2010-2011 academic year. Content analysis method, which is among frequency, percentage calculations and qualitative methods, has been used in analyzing the data. Participants have developed a total of 83 metaphors via the expression “school is like..., because...”. These metaphors have been classified under eleven different categories by taking their common traits into account. In view of the obtained data, it has been observed that the first five metaphors developed by the participants are family, life, prison, factory and society.