The purpose of the study is to determine the perceptions of physical education teacher candidates towards the concept of distance education by using metaphor technique. The research group consists of 50 physical education teacher candidates who continue their education processes through distance education at Yozgat Bozok University in the 2019-2020 academic year due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In the study, phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs, was preferred. “Distance education is like ......... / it is like ....,. Because....... ” they were asked to fill in the blanks given in the sample sentence. Categories and themes were created by analyzing the data with the content analysis method. Students' perceptions about distance education were interpreted according to the determined categories. Metaphors; '' Distance Education as a Problematic Structure '', '' DE as a Complex Structure '', '' DE as an Undeveloped Structure '', '' DE as a Necessary Structure '', '' DE as a Virtual Structure ' 'was collected in 5 categories. Among the metaphors that most of the students use and perceive negative metaphors, it is seen that the most used ones are "Torture, Treadmill Prison, Garbage, and Hell". As a result; Although distance education can provide an efficient learning environment by covering the deficiencies of education and training activities in terms of supporting face-to-face education, it can be said that it is insufficient to bear the burden of the education process alone. Considering that teachers and students' access to and mastery of technological devices in line with the information obtained from the study will significantly affect the achievements of the process; Regulations can be made to encourage teachers and students to access these tools.
Distance education, perception, metaphor, candidate teachers.