Female student teachers' experience of contemporary personal and professional demands

Abstract

The prevalent discourse is that teaching, and the teaching practicum, are stressful. This paper reports on the views of contemporary primary school student-teachers, most of whom are female. The aim was to understand current demands on student-teachers, both personal professional, from their perspective. Participants were primary-school student-teachers in their 4th year of an undergraduate degree at a Queensland University. Views were obtained from open-ended questions included in three questionnaires completed by student-teachers as a baseline, pre Internship and following their Internship. Their responses indicate the stress imposed by the financial need to work while studying, feeling overwhelmed by the academic demands, and concern that their Internship performance would impact on their career prospects, and their future.