The recruitment of quality students to teacher training programmes and entering the teaching profession is an important ongoing concern in many countries including the UK. This paper presents the results of a mixed methods study on the motivations for and perceptions of teaching as a career choice from the perspective of student teachers in Scotland. Results showed that most participants were positively attracted to the teaching profession, although there appeared to be a perceived mismatch between the demands of, and the returns to, teaching, which may be related to the presence of common myths and stereotypes related to teaching and propagated in the media that are not always grounded in objective reality.