Student-Teacher Distress: Perceived Prevalence of Psychological Distress among Final Year Primary School Student-Teachers, and Associations between the Internship Demands and Student-Teachers' Coping Strategies and Resources

Abstract

Teaching is stressful. Professional demands may impact on well-being and contribute to psychological distress, and attrition among student-teachers and beginning teachers. For student-teachers, already challenged by their final year of teacher preparation, the Internship may be similarly demanding. Psychological distress, one of the world’s most prevalent mental health disorders among the general adult population, has been widely studied, and found to be even greater, in university medical, health and law students. There is substantial literature about stress on teachers, and the impact of the practicum on early childhood teachers and secondary-school student-teachers, but few, if any, studies report on psychological distress, the Internship, and coping strategies of primary school student teachers. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate primary school student teachers’ psychological distress prior to, and during their 6-week Internship. Moreover, in order to extrapolate information on how best to address their psychological distress, and to identify strategies which may be pertinent to future teacher education curricula, a second purpose of the study was to examine coping strategies, and professional resources used by a sample of Australian primary-school student-teachers to manage their personal and professional stress.