Devrim ERDEM KEKLİK
Assist. Prof., Faculty of Education, Nigde University, Nigde, Turkey

ABSTRACT
Problem Statement: Enormous changes over the last decades have led to evolving roles of schools, teachers and education itself. This new era of a knowledge society has broadened boundaries of schools, education and learning. Thus, the variables involved in education demand exploration. One of the essential components of education is the teacher. Various characteristics of teachers have been examined. In recent years, teachers’ values have been one of the topics explored by educational researchers. 
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to examine candidate teachers’ values in a knowledge society and to determine whether their scores on values types differed according to a set of independent variables.
Method: Participants in this study were 192 students at Nigde University, Education Faculty. The sample consisted of 108 females (56.3%) and 84 males (43.8%). The Value Scale was used to measure value orientation of the participants. Data were collected using the “Values Scale.” This self-report instrument consists of 38 items scored on a five-point Likert scale. The Values Scale has three sub-scales. Traditional, universal and hedonistic values subscales were determined based on a review of the literature related to values in a knowledge society. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 22.
Findings: The findings showed that candidate teachers had high scores on traditional, universal and hedonistic values. Results showed significant gender difference in scores on traditional and hedonistic values. Significant differences in traditional values were found according to candidate teachers’ place of longest residence. Candidate teachers’ scores on value subscales differed according to whether or not they were involved in political activism. Candidate teachers’ scores on traditional, universal and hedonistic values did not differ significantly according to the other independent variables applied in the study.
Conclusion and Recommendations: Overall, the findings of this study were unique. Therefore, more work with diverse populations and assessment instruments is required in order to further clarify relationships between candidate teachers’ values and a variety of independent variables

Keywords: Knowledge society, values, traditional values, universal values, hedonistic values, candidate teachers.