This paper proposes to determine the thoughts of Turkish prospective teachers about characteristics of effective teachers. Moreover, the study investigates the issue in terms of the variables as gender and field of study. In this descriptive study, the data was gathered by using a questionnaire based on quantitative research method. The questionnaire was conducted to 221 prospective teachers at a university in Ankara, Turkey in the 2007-2008 academic terms. The results of the study revealed that ‘being objective’ has the highest mean whereas ‘gets students to do presentations (projects, etc.) in lessons’ has the lowest mean according to prospective teachers’ responses. Furthermore, there is a significant difference in participants’ responses according to the variables of gender and field of study.

Keywords: Effective teacher, prospective teachers, characteristic, teacher education