Emotional Resilience of Preservice Teachers

Marissa Atkins

Abstract

Emotional resilience is often defined by the ability of an individual to avoid or bounce back from stress when presented with difficult situations. Preservice teachers are exposed to a varying degree of stressors that only compound when they reach in-service teacher status. Emotional resilience is something proven to play a role in teacher retention, wellbeing, and satisfaction. The questions presented are how best to foster emotional resilience in pre-service teachers to increase the wellbeing of individuals, while also increasing teacher retention. Research was conducted to determine appropriate questions based on stressors that preservice teachers face. Four different types of stressors were identified pertaining to preservice teachers: evaluation anxiety, pupil and professional concerns anxiety, class control anxiety, and teaching practice requirements anxiety. Questions for the survey were created using the four types of identified stressors. After approval, the survey was sent out to upperclassmen preservice teachers for their responses. Roughly 70 responses were collected from participants.

 

Emotional Resilience of Preservice Teachers

Emotional resilience is often defined by the ability of an individual to avoid or bounce back from stress when presented with difficult situations. Preservice teachers are exposed to a varying degree of stressors that only compound when they reach in-service teacher status. Emotional resilience is something proven to play a role in teacher retention, wellbeing, and satisfaction. The questions presented are how best to foster emotional resilience in pre-service teachers to increase the wellbeing of individuals, while also increasing teacher retention. Research was conducted to determine appropriate questions based on stressors that preservice teachers face. Four different types of stressors were identified pertaining to preservice teachers: evaluation anxiety, pupil and professional concerns anxiety, class control anxiety, and teaching practice requirements anxiety. Questions for the survey were created using the four types of identified stressors. After approval, the survey was sent out to upperclassmen preservice teachers for their responses. Roughly 70 responses were collected from participants.