Potential stressors in (prospective) physical education teachers: a comparison of different career stages

Previous studies have identified stressors in physical education (PE) teachers. However, these studies lack a comprehensive consideration of potential teaching-related stressors combined with an analysis of differences in these potential stressors between different career stages. Given that many physical education teachers suffer from stress, the purpose of the present study was to investigate potential stressors in three career stages of (prospective) physical education teachers (student teachers, pre-service teachers, teachers) in order to further develop their education in terms of stress management. The results of a survey of 723 German (prospective) physical education teachers (255 student teachers, 117 pre-service teachers, 351 teachers) showed that, overall, noise, heterogeneity of students, and inadequate curriculum were reported to be the most frequent potential stressors. When controlling for teaching hours per week, teachers, and pre-service teachers did not differ in the frequency of potential stressors. However, both teachers and pre-service teachers reported significantly less lack of facilities/equipment, pupils’ discipline problems, and lack of pupils’ motivation than student teachers, and significantly more noise than PE student teachers. Additionally, teachers reported more heterogeneity of pupils than student teachers. These findings can be explained by characteristics of the specific career stages. For practical application, it can be concluded that there is a need for coping interventions that are tailored to the stressors which are salient in a specific career phase. In future research, studies should investigate stressors in different career stages longitudinally.