Coping with Student Teacher Stress at the University of Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

The study explored student-teachers' perceptions of the most common indicators of stress. It sought, also, to develop separate stress categories and make comparisons among them.The sample consisted of randomly selected 306 student-teachers from two campuses of the University of Trinidad and Tobago -Valsayn and Corinth. There were thirty six males and 270 females in the study. The study examined the relationship between the student-teacher stress factors as well as the predictive power of each independent factor on overall teachers' stress.The study employed a quantitative method using a cross-sectional design. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-V.17). T-tests were used to examine teachers' stress based on location, sex and full or part time status. Correlation and regression analysis were employed to examine the relationship between each of the stress factors as well as their influence on the overall dependent teacher stress.The findings suggested that there were no significant differences in teacher stress based on sex and location. There was a high correlation between professional development and curriculum-related stressors. Also, curriculum, personal/professional and professional development stressors had the greatest influence on overall student-stress.Keywords: student -teacher, academic stress, the University of Trinidad and Tobago Background and ContextTrinidad and Tobago, a twin-island state, is the most southerly of all the Caribbean islands. The island, after five centuries of foreign domination, gained its independence from Britain in 1962. The island possesses a British-oriented model of bureaucracy, which is reflected in the education system. Within the Trinidad and Tobago's education system, there are government schools, which are fully owned and operated by the state; government-assisted or denominational schools, which are managed by a private body( usually a religious denomination) but given financial assistance by the state; private schools, which are maintained and operated by private bodies without the assistance from the state; and special schools, which are designed for educating children with special needs and which provide education mainly at the primary level. Generally speaking the government-assisted schools are regarded as the better schools and there is a great demand for placement in these schools.At the University of Trinidad and Tobago prospective teachers are exposed to a four-year Bachelor of Education Degree Program consisting of a wide range of content, professional and pedagogical courses and the practicum. The content courses over the four year period included Social Studies, Mathematics, Language, Visual and Creative Arts, Science, Agricultural Science, Spanish and Health and Family Life. The professional and pedagogical courses include Classroom Management, Classroom-based Assessment, Curriculum Studies, Contemporary Issues in Education and Instructional Design. The eight Practicum courses over the four years aim to ...

Investigating the Relationship between Cognitive Distortions and Academic Stress for Intermediate School Teachers before and during Work

“…Academic stress can be defined as the experience of the unpleasant, negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, tension, frustration, and depression resulting from one's work as a teacher (Kyriacou, 2001;Gowrie et al, 2015). This is the definition I adopted to do this research.…”

“…This is the definition I adopted to do this research. Gowrie et al (2015) showed that the correlation between professional development and curriculum-related stressors. Further, curriculum, personal, professional stressors had the greatest influence on overall student-teachers stress (Gowrie et al, 2015).…”

“…Gowrie et al (2015) showed that the correlation between professional development and curriculum-related stressors. Further, curriculum, personal, professional stressors had the greatest influence on overall student-teachers stress (Gowrie et al, 2015). The findings suggested that there was a strong correlation between professional development, curriculum and assessment-related stressors, and the sampled teachers were of the view that assessment which is followed by curriculum and professional development affected them the most.…”

“…Numerous studies on teacher efficacy (e.g. Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007;Gowrie et al, 2015;Herman et al, 2017) have underscored the importance of a positive school environment that helps to reduce stress among both students and teachers. Hussein (2012) displayed the existence of significant passive effect of academic stress on occupational creativity, and the existence of significant passive effect of creative self-efficiency on academic stress.…”

“…Age was a significant predictor of having supplementary exams. Gowrie et al (2015) aimed to examine student-teacher's perceptions of the most common indicators of stress. It sought, also, to develop separate stress categories and make comparisons among them.…”