The purpose of this study was to gain an insight into the role of a early childhood special education
teacher recognized by pre-service early childhood special education teachers(n=184) who are studying in 6
universities. To do this, the metaphor analysis as qualitative data collection tool was used. Metaphor
analysis questionnaire consisted of demographic question and the following two sentences. ‘Early childhood
special education teacher is like~(metaphor).’ ‘Because~(rationale for why they selected those metaphor).’
151 of 184 the questionnaires met analytical conditions. 71 metaphors and rationales produced by
participants have been subjected to content analysis and clustered into 13 conceptual categories. five
categories out of 13 categories, with frequencies less than 5 were excluded from the analysis. Cumulative
interpretation of gathered data were revealed early childhood special education teacher's role as stimulus
supplier, nurturer, latent ability developer, guide, disciplinant, knowledge provider, a security guard, and
shelter. Based on these results, we discussed the implications for the development of teacher training
program by dividing the role of pre-service special education teacher into personal qualities and professional
qualities.