Evaluation of the stress lab – a video-based tool for prospective physical education teachers

Introduction
Prospective physical education (PE) teachers often experience stress (1). In order to prepare PE students to deal with potentially stressful teaching situations, the stress lab was developed for PE teacher education programs. The aim of the present study was to find out whether PE students felt better prepared for stressful teaching situations after participating in the stress lab.
Methods
The study was conducted with 100 PE students who were allocated to one of two groups: One group took part in the whole stress lab consisting of two parts, an e-learning unit to impart knowledge about stress and coping, and a practical unit to practice dealing with potentially stressful situations based on real-live videos (ELPU group, n = 47). The other group took part exclusively in the practical unit (PU group, n = 53). Students were asked before (t0) and after (t1) participation how prepared they feel for stressful teaching situations using an adaptation of a German questionnaire assessing stressful PE situations (ABIS, (2); e.g. pupils’ discipline problems). Data were analyzed using 2x2 ANOVAs (time x group).
Results
Results showed a significant increase for both groups of feeling prepared for pupils’ discipline problems (F(1, 69) = 5.84, p = .018), inadequate facilities and equipment (facilities) (F(1, 69) = 6.75, p = .011), physical strain (F(1, 69) = 5.87, p = .018), noise (F(1, 69) = 19.87, p < .001) and pupils’ heterogeneity (F(1, 69) = 12.49, p < .001). No effect of group was found. A significant interaction was found for facilities (F(1, 69) = 10.24, p = .002), problems with colleagues (F(1, 69) = 6.82, p = .011) and noise (F(1, 69) = 6.22, p = .015). In these items, the ELPU group showed higher values compared to the PU group.
Discussion
Results showed that PE students felt better prepared for a variety of stressful teaching situations after participating in the stress lab. This suggests that practicing coping strategies make PE students feel being able to handle stressful teaching situations. Moreover, the interaction effects showed that the benefit was particularly for the ELPU group. The reason could be that the ELPU group received information on stressful teaching situations and coping strategies by additionally participating in the e-learning unit. It can be concluded that PE students benefit from both parts and therefore both should be integrated into the education of PE teachers.
References
1) Schäfer, A., Pels, F., von Haaren-Mack, B., & Kleinert, J. (2019). Perceived stress and coping in physical education teachers in different career stages. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research, 49(4), 435–445.
2) Heim, R., & Klimek, G. (1999). Arbeitsbelastungen im Sportlehrerberuf: Entwicklung eines Instruments zur Erfassung fachunterrichtlicher Stressoren. [Workplace demands in the PE teaching profession: Development of an instrument to assess subject-specific stressors]. Psychologie und Sport, 6(2), 35–45.