Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Abstract
This paper investigated the stress levels of first-year education students who undertake teaching practicum and theory units during their first year of teacher education program. First, 139 first-year and 143 other years’ education students completed the PSS-10 scale, which measures perceived level of stress. Then, 147 first-year education students completed an online questionnaire to identify the particular stressors in their learning experience. The first-year education students had significantly higher stress levels than other years’ education students, (p < .01). Contributing stressors included academic work commitment; completing placement and related performance assessments in schools and at university; having a good understanding of the requirements of professional teaching, such as classroom management, and working with mentor teachers; and conflicting work and family commitments. These findings provide greater understanding about the stressors experienced by first-year education students and usefully inform ways to help this group achieve their study and career goals.
Recommended Citation
Geng, Gretchen and Midford, Richard
(2015)
"Investigating First Year Education Students’ Stress Level,"
Australian Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 40
:
Iss.
6
, Article 1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v40n6.1
Available at:
https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol40/iss6/1
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