Exploring the joint effects of stressors and resources on student engagement in teacher education: a French study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Evidence points to the existence of several stressors and resources that contribute to students’ engagement in teacher education, but more research is needed to integrate both kinds of factors within a common analytical framework. This study proposes such integration by testing a stress process model, in which stressors and resources combine with each other to predict preservice teachers’ engagement in their training. Using data from a sample of French preservice teachers (N = 340 French preservice teachers), results from structural equation models of student engagement (45.9% of variance explained) provide evidence for moderation and mediation effects characteristic of stress processes, notably between academic stressors (study workload, poor quality courses), academic resources (college self-efficacy, support from teacher educators) and vocational resources (intrinsic career motive). Implications are drawn on ways to counteract the negative impact of stressors in teacher education, and on ways to foster more integrative research on the stress processes that undergird preservice teachers’ engagement processes.