A rural-based teacher education intership: Stressors and coping mechanisms

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. A study examined sources of stress and coping mechanisms associated with student teaching. Questionnaires were completed by 43 students taking a rural-based internship program in New South Wales (Australia), and four of them participated in case studies involving interviews and diary accounts. Factor analysis of the data yielded four categories of stress: university evaluation, school evaluation, managing workload and roles, and catering for individual differences. Content analysis of open-ended responses yielded four main stress-related themes: teaching roles and responsibilities, management of time and workload, costs and living away from home, and student behavior. Five strategies for coping with stress were identified, with the main strategy being "communicating with others," especially mentor, class teacher, principal, parents, and friends. The second most-used strategy was self-help, such as reflection and maintaining a positive attitude. Other frequent coping strategies were relaxation and recreation, teaching and managing techniques, and organization. Recommendations include developing shared understandings of expectations between mentors, teachers, and lecturers of the internship program; implementing pre-internship stress management sessions; and strengthening collaboration between school and university personnel