Self-Exploration for Future Teachers: What do selected procedures of aptitude diagnostics record?

The authors start from the question of what is actually recorded by procedures of self-exploration through which individuals wanting to make a career as a teacher are meant to reflect and evaluate their aptitude for the teaching profession. Based on the description of scales and items from two selected methods of self-exploration the FIT-Inventory (Fit for the Teaching Profession) and the FIBEL (feedback-inventory for a profession-related initial orientation for the teaching profession), it is assumed that both procedures show multiple links to general personality variables and do thus not primarily record characteristics specific to the teaching profession. This hypothesis is empirically examined through a correlation analysis in which the correlations between the methods of self-exploration and the personality questionnaire NEO-FFI are calculated on the basis of data provided by a sample of n = 391 students in teacher training. The results suggest that FIT, FIBEL and NEO-FFI preponderantly record characteristics related in content. The significance of stable personality traits in the context of aptitude diagnostics for future teachers is discussed.