Journal of Psychology in Africa

ISSN: 1433-0237 (Print) 1815-5626 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpia20

Stress and coping among student teachers at a

South African university: An exploratory study

Lucy J. Draper-Clarke & David J. A. Edwards

To cite this article: Lucy J. Draper-Clarke & David J. A. Edwards (2016) Stress and coping among
student teachers at a South African university: An exploratory study, Journal of Psychology in
Africa, 26:6, 491-499, DOI: 10.1080/14330237.2016.1250425

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2016.1250425

Published online: 14 Dec 2016.

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Journal of Psychology in Africa, 2016
Vol. 26, No. 6, 491–499, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2016.1250425
© 2016 Africa Scholarship Development Enterprize

Stress and coping among student teachers at a South African university: An exploratory study

Lucy J. Draper-Clarke1 and David J. A. Edwards2,*

1
School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
2
Department of Psychology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
*Corresponding author email: d .edwards@ru .ac .za

This article reports findings from an exploratory qualitative study on the lived experience of stress among a convenience
sample of 14 South African university student teachers (female = 8, black = 7; age range = 22 to 31). The students were
participating in training in mindfulness meditation, and completed three interviews over a six-week period on stressors
impacting on their personal and professional lives and on how they experienced them and responded. There were additional
data from recordings of the mindfulness training sessions and a self-report scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress
Scale (DASS). Thematic analysis revealed a wide range of stressors experienced by the students and provided insight into
sources of resilience in dealing with them. In conclusion, the authors consider whether the extreme experiences of stress
foreshadow the discontent among South African students that would fuel the serious unrest and disruption that has been
negatively affecting South African universities since.

Keywords: student teacher, stress, stressors, mindfulness, resilience

Introduction of South African teachers were markedly higher than

The literature on stress and coping has always highlighted
the balance between being exposed to stressors and being
able to cope with the demands that they make (Lazarus
& Folkman, 1984). As Selye (1974) observed, where
the demands imposed by stressors exceed the capacity
of individuals to cope, they can result in burnout,
psychological distress and physical illness. However,
stressors can also evoke a sense of challenge and
satisfaction, and give meaning to life, an effect that Selye
termed ‘eustress’. Since then, the recognition of positive
responses to stress has been referred to as the salutogenic
(Strümpfer, 1990) or eudaemonic (Ryff, 2014) approach.
Some occupations or occupational situations are
recognised as particularly stressful, for example,
emergency services work (Ward, Lombard, & Gwebushe,
2006) and many medical and nursing contexts (Nulty
& Edwards, 2005; van der Colff & Rothman, 2014).
Internationally, teaching is also recognised as a stressful
occupation (Johnson et al., 2005), and this is particularly
the case in South Africa because of ongoing changes
in the system since the transition to democracy in 1994
(Schulze & Steyn, 2007). Stressors impacting on South
African teachers include role expansion and job overload,
role conflict, low pay, long working hours, overcrowded
classrooms, and lack of basic resources for teaching.
This is exacerbated by lack of involvement of parents
and poor motivation and negative attitudes on the part
of learners, with the resultant problems for teachers
in maintaining discipline. Imposition of curriculum
changes was also problematic especially when it occurs
against the background of poor relationships with school
administrators and governing bodies. All this is exacerbated
by the rate of crime and other traumatic events in the
country (Edwards, 2005), and inefficiency and corruption
in state departments (Olivier & Venter, 2003; Paulse, 2005;
Saptoe, 2000; Shalem & Hoadley, 2009; Steyn & Kamper,
2006). In a recent study, levels of stress in a large sample
those reported in similar international studies (Boshoff,
Potgieter, van Rensburg, & Ellis, 2014). Internationally, for
trainee teachers, the experience of teaching in a school for
the first time, the teaching practicum, is recognised to be
particularly stressful as it is here that they encounter, face-
to-face, the kinds of stressors within the teaching context
already referred to (Chambers, Hobson, & Tracey, 2010;
Chaplain, 2008; Kyriacou & Kunc, 2007).
Internationally, these kinds of stressors are understood
to impact negatively on the teachers themselves, reducing
job satisfaction (Hall & Altman, 2005) and compromising
their performance (Blase, 1986), since any threat to
teachers’ mental or physical well-being reduces their
capacity to provide a safe and caring environment for their
pupils (Kyriacou, 2001). More seriously, they can result
in or exacerbate physical and mental health problems
(Chaplain, 2008; Peltzer et al., 2009), give rise to high
absenteeism (McKenzie, Santiago, Sliwka, & Hiroyuki,
2005) and lead to departure from the profession altogether
(Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). The rate of withdrawal
from teaching, which is now a global cause for concern
(Kyriacou & Kunc, 2007), is particularly salient in South
Africa (Xaba, 2003), where it is estimated that 5-6% of
teachers leave the profession annually (Department of
Education, 2005). In 2006, for example, this meant a
loss of 20 000 teachers. Only 6 000 new teachers entered
the profession (Department of Education, 2007) and
projections to 2020 indicate a supply-and-demand gap of
42 135 teachers (Green, 2014). This, of course, creates
a vicious circle, degrading the quality of an already
compromised system and exacerbating the stress of those
teachers who remain or join.
However, as already indicated, there are significant
individual differences in the way teachers respond to
stressors, with many showing resilience, appearing to grow
through the experience (Kyriacou, 2000). For example,
educators experience satisfaction from watching learners

The Journal of Psychology in Africa is co-published by NISC (Pty) Ltd and Routledge, Informa UK Limited [trading as Taylor & Francis Group]
492 Draper-Clarke & Edwards
develop and achieve, and from their own experience of
effectiveness and mastery in their role (Steyn & Kamper,
2006). In a group of black South African teachers,
Boshoff and colleagues (2014, p. 128) reported that 28%
of their sample of 200 teachers described themselves as
‘flourishing, or experiencing optimal levels of emotional,
psychological and social well-being’, and only 1.5% as
‘languishing’. Similarly, de Klerk, Temane and Nienaber
(2013, p. 423) reported that over 90% of a large sample
of South African school teachers were satisfied with the
schools in which they taught and that overall well-being
was ‘moderate to high’. Personality factors that promote
resilience include learned resourcefulness (Rosenbaum,
1988), sense of coherence (Eriksson & Lindström, 2005;
van Dyk, 2015) and hardiness (Abdollahi et al., 2016;
Chan, 2003; Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982). Resilience
is also closely associated with engagement, the experience
of motivated and committed occupational activity, and this
in turn is associated with a sense that work is meaningful
(Chikoko, Buitendach, & Kanengoni, 2014), that one is
working in a supportive organisational context and being
proactively focused on one’s strengths (Stander, Mostert,
& de Beer, 2014). Other contributing factors are providing
mentorship, capacity to use social support, spiritual beliefs
(Theron & Theron, 2014) and religious involvement
(Dunn, Inglewicz, & Moutier, 2008; Edwards & Besseling,
2001; Russell, Altmaier, & Van Velzen, 1987).
Teacher training programmes have largely ignored the
stressful nature of teaching, and of the training process
itself. Rather, stress has been accepted as ‘a natural
element of the transition from novice to qualified teacher’
(Chaplain, 2008, p. 195), with the result that courses
focus on a combination of theoretical input and practical
teaching experience in order to shape trainees’ identity as
teachers (Maynard & Furlong, 1995). Yet, in South Africa,
where stress levels are particularly high, it would be
valuable to find ways to enhance trainee teachers’ capacity
to cope with stress. Mindfulness meditation training
has potential as a way of building and strengthening
resilience and has been shown to have a positive impact
on a range of stress-related illnesses (Baer, 2003; Moore
& Malinowski, 2009; Shapiro & Carlson, 2009) as well as
depression (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002). Several
studies of mindfulness training for teachers have shown
promise (MacDonald & Shirley, 2009; Meiklejohn et al.,
2012; Roeser, Skinner, Beers, & Jennings, 2012; Singh et
al., 2013). The data for the present article were taken from
a mixed-methods study in which South African trainee
teachers were offered a course of mindfulness training.
Participants’ experience was monitored qualitatively
and quantitatively and data were gathered on the major
stressors that impacted on them, their experiences of stress
and how they coped. The present article presents analyses
of some of the data from this study that explores their
lived experience of stress both from their work roles as
educators and also in their personal lives.
Method
Research design
The broader study had a mixed-methods design in which
self-report measures were used to assess various factors
including stress levels pre and post the mindfulness
training. Comprehensive qualitative data was gathered
from interviews and from the mindfulness training sessions
themselves. The qualitative approach allowed for an in-
depth understanding of the participants’ experiences of
stress in their lives and ways in which they were coping.
Participants
Participants were a convenience sample of 14 student
teachers attending a large South African university. They
were eight women and six men between the ages of 22
and 31 (mean = 25), who, after an introductory talk about
the study, volunteered to take part in a mindfulness-based
intervention (MBI). Pseudonyms are given here as these
are referred to later in the thematic analysis: one Chinese
female: Kim (22); two black females: Atandwa (29) and
Emelda (29); five white females: Georgia (22), Imogen
(23), Mary (22), Ophelia (23) and Hannah (24); five black
males: Bonolo (27), Charles (31), Luthuli (26), Nicholas
(24) and Sipho (24); and one white male: Rupert (26). Four
had attended township schools, three had attended rural
schools, while the remaining seven had attended suburban,
generally well-resourced, schools. Two had previously
tried meditation and five had either had support for mental
health issues in the past, or were currently being prescribed
antidepressant medication. Two staff members, responsible
for running the students’ course, were also interviewed.
On the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS),
the students presented with elevated scores that were
higher than those from a large non-clinical sample in the
United Kingdom (Henry & Crawford, 2005). Furthermore,
78% scored in what is considered the clinical range.
Nieuwenhuijsen et al. (2003) suggested cut-off scores
for referral for clinical care (5 for anxiety and 12 for
depression). Using this criterion, only three out of the 14
students were not in need of clinical care (9 for anxiety, 8
for depression, 5 for both). These scores are significantly
higher than those from normative samples in the United
Kingdom (Henry & Crawford, 2005), University of
Houston, USA (Norton, 2007), and Australian high school
learners (Szabó, 2010).
Procedure/informed consent
Ethical clearance for the study was granted by the
University of the Witwatersrand. Participants were
provided with information about the purpose of the study,
given assurances regarding confidentiality and disclosure
risks and told that they could discontinue at any time.
They were also informed of the availability of a university
counsellor to work through their stress experiences should
the need arise. They individually signed a consent form to
participate.
Data collection
The students completed three interviews each: pre-MBI,
post-MBI and one month follow-up. The pre-MBI
interview collected demographic information and gathered
baseline data on the nature of stress that student teachers
were experiencing, and the coping strategies they used.
Stress was self-defined and students were asked to discuss
a recent experience of stress, and a particularly stressful
 Journal of Psychology in Africa
event in their life. They explored the cause of the event,
how they coped with it, and the ensuing emotions. They
were also asked to consider the impact of their stress on the
people around them. Subsequent interviews focused on the
usefulness of and challenges related to the MBI, and asked
for reflection on their experiences of stress. In addition,
recordings were made of the six MBI training sessions
which included interactions between trainer and students.
All interviews and the discussion sections of the training
sessions were transcribed.
The first author met with the participants a number
of times over a period of several weeks for the individual
interviews and in the six MBI training sessions themselves.
This allowed her to get to know the participants and form
a relationship with them. This also allowed her to monitor
the consistency of their accounts of their experience.
Because the MBI sessions were interactive, participants
were able to express concerns and the researcher was able
to respond to them, so no formal debriefing took place
since this was addressed within the ongoing interaction
which included the one-month follow-up interview.
Data analyses
The qualitative data were thematically analysed
utilising Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
(IPA) techniques (Smith & Osborn, 2007). Line-by-line
analysis of the experiential accounts of the participants
was conducted, with a focus on students’ experience of
stress and factors that exacerbated stress or contributed
to resilience. IPA was supplemented with a case-based
methodology, situating the students’ experiences of stress
and coping within the context of their lives and unfolding
experience as teacher trainees. This second step gave
rise to a series of ‘Portraits’ which will be presented in
a separate publication (Draper-Clarke & Edwards, in
preparation).
Table 1: Themes and subthemes in two domains identified in the IPA
External stressors
Superordinate Subordinate
Teacher • Academic: Deadlines, exams, course
Education course content
• Teaching Experience (Practical):
‘Apprenticeship of observation’
• Anticipated stress—students,
supervising teachers
• Discipline, jealousy from colleagues,
criminal behaviour
Traumatic life • Crime: Murder, armed robbery, smash
events and grab
• Unexpected events: Red Ants, death of
friend/relative, car accidents
Financial • Limited financial resources, Funza
concerns Lushaka bursary delay
• Part-time work commitments
Domestic issues • Interpersonal conflicts: Fights with
partner, relatives, jealousy, divorce of
parents
• Living conditions
Transport issues • Road rage, crime, cost
493
Findings
The themes identified in the IPA are summarised in
Table 1. They were grouped under two broad classes.
The first was the external stressors that many South
African students have to deal with which were prominent
in the students’ accounts. The second was personality
characteristics of students that reflected the manner in
which they responded to these stressors and contributed
to resilience or lack thereof. Under each of these broad
classes are a number of superordinate themes and within
each of these, several subordinate and specific ones.
External stressors
External stressors are factors that impose demands on the
resources of the students, demands that might exceed their
capacity to meet them and cope.
Teacher Education course
Several participants found the number of assignments,
deadlines and variety of course components overwhelming.
Some, such as Hannah and Mary, experienced conflictual
relationships with other students, and others, such as
Luthuli, had conflicts with their lecturers, often over
marks. The two staff members acknowledged that the
curriculum was demanding and intense and resulted
in students being exposed to high levels of stress. For
them it made sense that these students were engaged in
a ‘struggle for survival’ phase of life as suggested by
Maynard and Furlong (1995) and saw this as contributing
to the number of students who dropped out of the course
each year. This had motivated them to welcome the
mindfulness intervention. The Teaching Experience (TE)
coordinator explained how students enrol for the course
with misperceptions about the challenges involved with
teaching, based on their own experiences as learners in
school. Those from deprived backgrounds had experienced
Personality characteristics
Superordinate Subordinate
Driven behaviour • Overcoming mistakes of the past
• Perfectionism and needing to feel in control
• Guilt
• Anxiety-proneness
Fear of failure • Going back to where I came from
• Letting down family’s expectations
Idealism and • Desire to contribute to society
motivation • Passion and pragmatic motivation
• Being true to oneself
494 Draper-Clarke & Edwards
teaching of very low quality: ‘They go into the classroom
and it is a shock for them and they realise how difficult it
is, and it looked so easy’ . For students who had excellent
teachers, there is also a mismatch in expectation, as they
have experienced teachers with clear pedagogical thinking,
sound content knowledge and the capacity to interest and
guide learners in the subject. These students do not realise
just how much skill was involved in that. They ‘come
in with this idea that teaching is so easy, because their
teachers had made it look so easy’ . So in each case, there
are unrealistic expectations. They thought it would be ‘so
straightforward, and they get there and they suddenly see
how complex it really is . Now that’s what prompts the
struggle for survival’ .
Further stressors were brought about by the teaching
practicum in which students spent several weeks in a
school and taught regular classes. Bonolo and Mary felt
anxious not knowing what would be expected of them by
the supervising teachers. Several participants were shocked
by the harsh and dysfunctional conditions in the township
schools they were sent to. They suddenly realised what
their future profession might be like, in an environment
that was unsupportive, or actively hostile and undermining
with unmotivated students, hostile colleagues and few
resources. Rupert, Atandwa, Luthuli and Imogen spoke of
the stress evoked in them by the undisciplined behaviour
of learners. Atandwa was shocked by the behaviour of the
students who ‘screamed for no reason’. She explained how
those children…they are rude, they don’t care for
anything . You try and make a lesson interesting, you
try to give some positiveness, you try so hard and
they will scrumple it up and thrash it to the floor and
spit on it . They will spit on your lesson plan . It was
absolutely horrifying .
Atandwa noted the high absentee rate of the teachers and
the unprofessional behaviour of the school principal:
The principal was on the intercom, ‘All the teachers
that do some work, please can I call you to the office.
I’m talking to the teachers that earn their money,
please try to earn your money, do some work’ . Over
the intercom! What are the kids going to say now?
How are the kids going to respect their teachers if
the principal doesn’t respect the teachers…if the
principal is dissing the teachers over the intercom in
front of the children?
Imogen described appalling conditions including theft
and vandalism in the school itself. This had a negative
impact on the learning environment, though Imogen, a
student with a wide range of coping strategies, and good
situational coping, was able to grow from the experience.
Other students reported unsupportive relationships with
the teachers. Sipho’s experience of ‘negative energy’ from
colleagues left him disillusioned:
For me it’s very sad, it is one of the best schools
in Soweto and it sort of reflects a hypocrisy in our
society, that we teach people to be better adults…
but once they get there…If we are to progress [as a
society], we would expect disturbance or obstacles
from much more undesirable elements than teachers,
teachers who are supposed to own the future .
His head of department explained that teachers feel
threatened by the arrival of teacher trainees who have a
better quality of education and have experienced more
advantages than they have: ‘Now suddenly someone of
your age and your qualifications, pedigree etc . and they
feel threatened, they feel territorial’. Imogen too found
that her supervising teacher for English language ‘was
quite threatened by me’. She undermined Imogen by
wiping from the board the material she had written for a
supervised lesson:
I felt it was a bit intentional what she had done . I
had to adapt my whole lesson…I think it was a race
issue—a white girl coming in, also the fact that
English is my first language.
Traumatic life events
Outside the university context, several participants reported
having been exposed to traumatic events. Bonolo spoke of
multiple traumas related to crime in the township. While
having his hair cut, someone came in to tell the barber that
he had killed a man in a fight and the barber’s advice was
to move to another city: ‘From that day, that’s where I saw
that Johannesburg is a place where nasty things happen .
That day I experienced it, I’ve heard it for myself.’ Later,
he spoke of a traumatic experience when plain-clothes
police beat a group of gamblers with sjamboks (whips).
When he goes to that area now, he becomes hyper-alert
and experiences the physical manifestations of anxiety,
such as a rapid heartbeat.
Ophelia had been seriously affected by a ‘smash-and-
grab’ incident in her car, an all too common experience
for Johannesburg drivers. She had also experienced an
armed robbery at her family home, after which she had
nightmares and problems sleeping for weeks. After the
smash-and-grab incident, she sought therapy to alleviate
the stress but did not feel it helped much: ‘But I’m fine now
and I’m sleeping better and I haven’t had nightmares in a
long time and I think it’s just something…you’ve just gotta
get through it’.
Charles and other residents were evicted without
warning from an apartment block in Hillbrow by the
Red Ants (a security company). All his possessions were
thrown out of the building. They had been paying rent
to other tenants who had not passed the money on to the
owner of the building. He recalled the incident in vivid
detail:
It was so humiliating, Lucy, I remember I was
wearing only track pants, my vest and when these
guys came in, they were cops, there were Red
Ants, these guys who clear buildings…They took
us out at 3am, we were outside with my bags and
I left my books upstairs…These guys come in and
take everything—steal in the process…I was so so,
so stressed . I felt like I hate Jo’burg that morning .
I hate Jo’burg with a passion . I just wanted to go
home now .
 Journal of Psychology in Africa
Divorce of parents (Imogen) and death of a friend
or relative (Sipho, Atandwa and Imogen) were other
unexpected, traumatic events that students referred to
when recalling stressful situations in their lives. For some,
these events were accepted, reframed and were seen as
opportunities to develop resilience, while others were
burdened by the memory of them.
Sipho shared his feelings around the death of his
youngest brother, aged 4, three years earlier, who ‘…
was the closest person I’ve ever been to in my life . He
was like a son to me’. It had caused Sipho to reappraise
his approach to life. He experienced extreme anxiety and
found that when he was anxious, he tended to ruminate and
would procrastinate around the challenges that he needed
to face. He sought medical support, and, after some time,
I started feeling, I’ll just live life as positively as I
can, so I justify not only myself, but my brother—
my late brother and my other brother who is still up
and coming…I felt how awful the pressure of time is,
because you never know when time is up for you, so
instead of being anxious, let me just relax and grow .
This concept of ‘growing up’, I just told myself, grow
up and be a big brother . I was 21 .
Financial concerns
Financial difficulties were a significant stressor for all
seven of the black participants. Bonolo described this
situation clearly: ‘I don’t want to lie to you, some of
the students who dropped out, they told me, “Honestly,
Bonolo, I cannot afford the fees, the transport, the money
for gas, you can see the price of petrol keeps escalating”’.
Several applied for the National Student Financial Aid
Scheme (NSFAS), which is a loan rather than a grant
scheme. Others applied for a Funza Lushaka bursary,
which was set up to promote teaching as a profession.
Applicants were not told for six months whether they
had received the bursary or not. Several did not receive
it after this time, and had to find other ways of paying
for the course and their accommodation, such as taking
loans, borrowing from relatives, or taking part-time jobs
on top of their studies. For example, Luthuli worked part-
time and this involved getting up early (4am) and walking
long distances, with the result that he did not have time to
complete his assignments to the level that he wanted. It
also meant that he had little time for social interactions and
often felt isolated. After a challenging period of indecision,
Charles decided to withdraw from the programme due
to lack of funds. However, when he went to the finance
office, the university assisted him through an internal
bursary. In the meantime, though, he had missed his TE
and would have to make that up before he could graduate
from the course. This could delay his entry into the
profession. Bonolo summarised this concern:
Money is one thing that keeps us stressing, because
if you don’t pay your fees by next year January, you
might get employed by November, but if you are
unable to show the letter to say you have completed
your PGCE, then you won’t be able to get that job .
Finance is a big problem .
495
Domestic issues
A number of students reported being stressed by
relationship conflicts at home. Emelda had difficulty
trying to balance the life of a wife, mother and student.
Her decision to become a teacher had put great pressure on
her marriage, because her husband was not supportive and
she felt that the trust between them had broken down. She
felt resentful that she had supported him financially when
he was starting his businesses, but now he was not willing
to support her:
Every day there was a fight about something because
of this one decision that I took . I was excited and
could share with everybody [except him] . I need to
know I can rely on him when I’m not there…He’s an
entrepreneur, he started many businesses when I was
working and taking care of us . It felt like betrayal .
Several students were living at home with their families
due to financial constraints. Mary was one of several who
had previously left home for university, but had moved
back to the family home and was struggling with the
readjustment required. Bonolo found it hard to work in the
presence of family members: ‘My family is talkative . When
I’m studying I put on headphones, but I can still hear their
conversation’. Atandwa lived in particularly crowded
conditions with her mother. She had to share the use of a
bed with her mother, who worked the night shift, and had
no separate study space and had to study in the presence of
her sisters, in front of the television.
Nicholas was dealing with loss after the break up with
his girlfriend, while Charles had been shocked to learn that
his girlfriend was pregnant. Initially he been angry and
blamed her, but now he felt remorseful for his reaction,
which conflicted with his usual perception of himself as
kind and helpful:
I’m this person who likes helping . I just love it…In
Zulu there is an expression that a person is a person
through other people, so it’s that kind of thing .
Sometimes it is at my expense, but I don’t mind . I
feel so good’ .
He described how ‘this situation revealed a different
aspect of what I thought I am . I think now I’m weaker’.
Transport issues
For the lower income students, in particular, getting to the
university by public transport was itself a daily stressor.
Some students had to travel long distances, as their
accommodation was far away and they could not afford to
stay in student residences. This was particularly stressful
for Atandwa who had to allow two hours travel time each
way: ‘I wake up at 4am, and do the classes and sometimes
finish at 6pm, and if I finish at 6pm, I arrive home at 8pm’.
Another factor was threats to personal safety. Emelda
reported feeling afraid she would be mugged and her
bag taken and how she had to hold onto it at all times.
By contrast, the more affluent students, such as Rupert,
Georgia and Mary, who had their own cars, noted the stress
caused while driving, and occasional feelings of ‘road
rage’ during rush hour traffic. Imogen also noted feeling
uncomfortable and guilty when seeing people begging at
the traffic lights.
496 Draper-Clarke & Edwards
Personality characteristics
Personality characteristics play a significant role in
determining how the student teachers appraise and cope
with external stressors (Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1978).
Several students showed a nuanced understanding of
this and the difference between eustress and distress.
Assignment deadlines, for example, could act as a
motivating force (eustress), helping them to achieve their
goals, rather than causing emotional distress and stress
symptoms, depending on how they were appraised and
responded to. Automatic habitual coping patterns that had
developed over their lifetime were now carried into their
new profession. These patterns might confer vulnerability
by intensifying distress when demands are high, or
promote resilience by reducing the impact of challenging
situations. Students could identify some of the personality
factors that affected their appraisal of stressors in their
initial interviews, but they became more perceptive and
insightful in later interviews. Two factors seemed to be
at work here. First, the mindfulness training and practice
enhanced their ability to notice their habitual tendencies.
Second, it seems probable that, as trust developed within
the group and between researcher and participants, they
became more open to sharing their problematic patterns in
more depth, without feeling blamed or shamed.
Driven behaviour
Students described feeling driven in their work in a manner
that seemed to exacerbate their experience of being
stressed. There were four aspects of this: overcoming
mistakes of the past; perfectionism as a result of perceived
inadequacy; feelings of guilt; and anxiety-proneness.
Bonolo had experienced failure when he was expelled
from school: ‘I wanted to cry, I was so emotional…now
I knew that being useless is not a nice feeling . When you
sit at home doing nothing, you feel useless’. He compared
himself with his sister, who was working and able to buy
presents for their mother:
I thought this is inspiring . At the same time, it sort of
applied pressure . I compared myself with my sister…
and that stressed me a lot, and every day I would
go to sleep, thinking that I need to do something,
although it seemed almost impossible . I’ve got to do
something with my life, I cannot settle for a mediocre
life .
The second aspect was an over-compensatory striving
for perfection, to make up for perceived inadequacy. This
striving was particularly marked in Hannah and Luthuli,
who required themselves to be better than others. Hannah’s
primary motivating force ‘is not wanting to end up being
ordinary’ . She would overlook her past achievements and
focus forward on what to accomplish next. After returning
from London, she struggled with feelings of ‘being a
failure, wanting to be successful and waiting for my life
to start’. Luthuli reported that, out of 99 students, ‘The
education marks came out and I was quite disappointed
that I was 3rd and I thought I should pull up my socks’.
This seemed to be a way of coping with a negative sense of
self. When he received negative feedback and low marks
from a lecturer, he would feel depressed for several days.
This brought back memories of things he had done in
the past that he felt guilty about. His response was to be
perfectionistic.
Getting low marks makes me ill—emotionally ill…I
am a perfectionist . So far I have not forgiven myself
because I feel I still need to fix certain things…My
aim is to get a distinction for PGCE this year, and
I can start forgiving myself as I will have corrected
my mistakes .
Georgia also described setting very high standards for
herself, and talked extensively about needing to feel in
control: ‘[It is] myself who puts pressure on myself . Others
tell me not to put pressure on myself…I’m a perfectionist
and I won’t let things go until they are 100% in my mind’.
Third, there was self-criticism that evoked guilt when
the standards set were not met. This served to motivate
them to strive to work hard and achieve high standards.
Feeling guilty when not focusing on work was an
experience described by Hannah, Georgia and Luthuli.
Hannah noted how she wanted to use reading as a form of
relaxation, but couldn’t allow herself to: ‘I love reading,
but feel guilty when I’m meant to be reading academic
work’. Guilt often pushed these students towards excessive
work, as they felt that the power to do more was within
their control. Emelda felt conflicted by the demands of the
multiple roles she played as wife and mother, and was self-
critical about the way she handled that. She felt that ‘my
life could be better if I was more organised . I don’t know
if I’m just lazy . I want to do a lot of things, but don’t have
that personality to plan better . Time management—I need
to learn that’.
A fourth feature, displayed notably by Mary, was
a pattern of worrying and anxiety. She talked about
‘obsessing about what has to be done, when it has to be
done by’, and after meeting an assignment deadline said, ‘I
was still stressed as I was not sure that what I’d produced
was of the quality that I was happy with’. This contrasted
strongly with Rupert, who noted how he was able to let
any feelings of anxiety go as soon as he had submitted his
work.
Fear of failure
For Charles and Nicholas from rural Limpopo, and
Sipho from the township, the fear of failure was rooted
in the harsh reality of their home situations, and the high
expectations of their families. They feared they would not
be able to lift themselves up to a higher economic level but
would end up going back to where they came from without
anything to show for their education, and without being
able to support their families, financially and emotionally.
Charles discussed this in detail:
You’ve got to study to be successful, or if you don’t
study, you don’t . There’s this kind of panic . I’m living
a panic kind of mode . Everything’s about, if you
don’t, you go back . I’ve got two worlds—where I’m
going, and I don’t want to fall back to where I was .
I’m driven by, at times, it’s fear, to be honest…and
fear in such a way that if I fail, that’s the worst thing,
that’s a nightmare, I cannot afford . I lose weight, I
 Journal of Psychology in Africa
get sick ‘coz now I see the different reality . Now I’m
failing now and failure to me means going back…I
don’t know how to deal with that, I’ve struggled so
many times but it keeps on coming back .
For Sipho there was the added pressure of being the
pioneer in the family and the expectations on him of family
members: ‘I used to experience a lot of anxiety when I
was still in undergrad because I’m the first person to go
to university in my family, so I had a lot of anxiety about
life and what am I going to do, will I graduate, will I get
excluded, all those things’. Nicholas felt this as well as the
added responsibility of setting an example and helping his
other siblings to follow in his footsteps:
It was really difficult, especially if you are first
born . Your siblings, you have to inspire learning in
them…it’s really draining because they have to go
to varsity as well, and I should be the one helping in
the schooling, especially financially.
Idealism and personal meaning
Hannah, Georgia, Luthuli, Charles, Sipho and Emelda
all spoke of an idealistic motivation to become teachers
so they could make a contribution to society and solve
societal problems. This gave personal meaning to their
choice of career. Bonolo and Sipho were driven by the
desire to be inspirational to township students, as they
themselves had made a success of themselves despite
difficult childhood circumstances. This desire gave them
the strength to get through difficult situations while on
Teacher Ediucation. However, this led to disillusionment
when they were faced with the harsh realities of school
life, and Bonolo and Sipho wondered whether they would
actually be able to make a positive difference in such
disorganised and chaotic environments.
By contrast, the motivation of Nicholas, a black
student, was more pragmatic. He wanted to be sure of
getting a job:
The African students, black students, and the white
students, the reason why they pursue their PGCE
course is different . For us, it’s job related, for them,
most of them, it’s passion . So you can see, for us, I
did the course because I was not getting a job .
He also believed that the experience of being a teacher
might equip him with skills that he could use in the future
for what he really wanted to do, which was motivational
speaking. Currently he could not pursue this as he felt
he lacked the courage to talk to a group of people: ‘That
has been my struggle for as long as I can remember . You
feel something inside, but don’t know how to get it out .
I’m not being authentic to the truth that I feel inside’.
He had decided that a PGCE, although academically
and emotionally challenging, would allow him time to
deepen and enhance these skills, and this added motivation
allowed him to cope with the stressors that he experienced
during the course.
Some students referred to their authentic self, and the
need to be true to it. Charles spoke of the need to ‘be me
again’, as he feels there are ‘problematic things in the
human spirit, in the soul, that need to be worked out…If
497
you work deeper, you work with the inner voice’. He felt
that he
wanted to be in tune with my inner being, that’s what
I miss most, more than anything else . I might be
looking happy now but there is the inner being that
is not tapped, not being used, not being utilised . In
a way they say peace of mind generates power, so if
you quieten your mind, then your power comes . I’ve
seen that, I’ve experienced that .
Discussion
In First World countries, the main sources of stress for
student teachers are located in the teacher training itself
(Chaplain, 2008; Pettegrew & Wolf, 1982). However,
many of the stressors to which the participants of this study
were exposed reflected the context of a contemporary
South African city and problems within the education
system itself: exposure to crime and other traumatic life
events; inadequate financial support; living conditions not
conducive to studying; long commuting times and transport
difficulties; and the harsh and dysfunctional conditions in
some of the schools. Financial difficulties, in particular,
leading to fears of having to drop out of the course, or
having to live in unsatisfactory conditions where it was
difficult to study and/or experience prolonged travel times,
contributed to the stress experienced by many students
and which, in retrospect, can be seen to foreshadow events
that were to unfold over two years later. Data collection
was completed in October 2012. In October 2015 there
were massive and often violent student protests in what
came to be called the ‘#FeesMustFall’ campaign. The
protests were precipitated by the announcement of the
new university fees for 2016, and began at the University
of the Witwatersrand before spreading rapidly to other
universities. Student discontent reflected the kinds of
financial concerns that students articulated in the findings
of this study, particularly among disadvantaged students
(Disemelo, 2015), as well as a host of other unsatisfactory
conditions (Hall, 2016). This crisis has still not been
resolved but is escalating (Pather, 2016). Addressing many
of these stressors calls for action at government, societal
and institutional level.
The study provides insight into the lived experiences
of students coping with demanding conditions. It showed
how many of them exhibited the characteristics that bestow
resilience and were able to see difficulties as challenges,
and find meaning in their work as teachers. This will be
elaborated in case-based analyses from the same study
(Draper-Clarke & Edwards, in preparation). Furthermore,
the broader study provided evidence that mindfulness
training can contribute to enhancing resilience under these
sorts of stressful conditions (Draper-Clarke, 2013; 2014,
submitted).
Acknowledgements
1. The authors express their thanks to the participants who
shared their experiences so freely and made this study
possible.
2. David Edwards’ contribution to this article was supported
by grants from the National Research Foundation and
Rhodes University’s Research Committee.
498 Draper-Clarke & Edwards
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