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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 ...

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The study examined the extent to which there were changes in pre-service teachers' beliefs, expectations and other teacher preparation issues over a four-year period at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. The study was guided by the conceptual framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1997) -the personal, critical, academic, practical and technical orientation -and compared pre-service teachers' reflections on these five components before and after their exposure to the practicum at the university. The participants in the study were 36 pre-service beginning teachers who were never exposed to any teacher training programme. There were 12 males and 24 females whose average ages were 24 years. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews at the beginning and the end of the four year period. The interview data were audio-taped and later transcribed in the tradition of grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Systematic coding was used to uncover key features and emerging themes from the first and second phases of the study. Five categories consistent with the conceptual framework of the study were identified: beliefs and expectations, mentorship support, resource adequacy, content and pedagogical knowledge and adequate classroom experiences. The findings suggested there were some changes in pre-service beliefs and expectations and other preparation issues. There were also mixed messages from the beginning teachers with regard to adequate resources, mentorship support and classroom experiences. Recommendations were made for the continuing professional development of these novice teachers.

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