The aim of this study is to determine teacher candidates’ metaphorical perceptions related to the notion of authentic learning. The study is a qualitative study in the design of phenomenology. This study has been carried out with 76 teacher candidates. Data collection tools received from 10 teacher candidates have not been included in the study because of the following reasons: some of the data collection tools were undecipherable, some of them were not complete, and some of them have not been filled according to the aim of the study. Therefore, there were 49 female, 17 male, in total 66 teacher candidates who enrolled in this study. The documents of the metaphors for the notion of authentic learning that were produced by the teacher candidates have been analysed by using content analysis method. Consequently, the 66 teacher candidates that were in the study group developed 53 metaphors. The metaphors uttered by the female teacher candidates most are “Mirror” and “Life”. The metaphor, on the other hand, shared by the male teacher candidates most is “Human”. Eight conceptual categories have been created from the metaphors that have been developed. Most of the metaphors were under the “Authentic Learning as the Life Itself” category and the least of the metaphors were under the “Authentic Learning as the Provider of the Transition” category. If learning is to be associated with daily life, it can be effective for teacher candidates and in-service teachers to take courses or attend activities that are related to authentic learning.