Abstract
The first aim of this study was to ascertain the main characteristics of an ideal secondary‐school mathematics teacher as perceived by pre‐service teachers in the science education department of Middle East Technical University (METU). The second aim was to explore cooperating teachers' views of the extent to which the pre‐service teachers acquired these characteristics, and the pre‐service teachers' views of the extent to which their cooperating teachers possessed these characteristics. Thirdly, we wanted to ascertain dissonances and consonances between pre‐service teachers and their cooperative teachers.