TY - JOUR

T1 - Enhancing pre-service teachers' well-being during long-term internships

T2 - The roles of self-efficacy, mentoring, and task-related sense of coherence

AU - Homann, Hanna-Sophie

AU - Beckmann, Timo

AU - Ehmke, Timo

PY - 2025/2/7

Y1 - 2025/2/7

N2 - This study investigates the protective influence of different resources on the occupational well-being of pre-service teachers during their long-term internship. This research grounded in the theoretical framework of the JD-R model seeks to comprehend how internal resources such as self-efficacy and task-related sense of coherence (SoC) in pre-service teachers along with external resources such as different mentoring styles can foster engagement and mitigate emotional exhaustion. This study introduces the task-related SoC as a novel internal resource in the context of long-term internships to determine its value alongside other resources. The study used a sample of 213 pre-service teachers who answered self-questionnaires at the beginning and end of their four-month-long internship. Structural equation modeling explored the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs, task-related SoC, mentoring approaches, engagement and emotional exhaustion. Results indicate that self-efficacy and task-related SoC significantly predict pre-service teachers’ occupational well-being. Among mentoring approaches, emotional mentoring emerged as the most influential in fostering well-being. The findings confirm the health-promoting effects of self-efficacy and emotional mentoring. This is the first study to apply the general construct of a sense of coherence to the specific context of a long-term internship. It demonstrates that strengthening pre-service teachers’ SoC about particular tasks can be an additional resource for mental health promotion during this period. The results suggest that supporting pre-service teachers in perceiving their internship activities as comprehensible, meaningful and manageable can be beneficial and should be externally promoted by the university.

AB - This study investigates the protective influence of different resources on the occupational well-being of pre-service teachers during their long-term internship. This research grounded in the theoretical framework of the JD-R model seeks to comprehend how internal resources such as self-efficacy and task-related sense of coherence (SoC) in pre-service teachers along with external resources such as different mentoring styles can foster engagement and mitigate emotional exhaustion. This study introduces the task-related SoC as a novel internal resource in the context of long-term internships to determine its value alongside other resources. The study used a sample of 213 pre-service teachers who answered self-questionnaires at the beginning and end of their four-month-long internship. Structural equation modeling explored the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs, task-related SoC, mentoring approaches, engagement and emotional exhaustion. Results indicate that self-efficacy and task-related SoC significantly predict pre-service teachers’ occupational well-being. Among mentoring approaches, emotional mentoring emerged as the most influential in fostering well-being. The findings confirm the health-promoting effects of self-efficacy and emotional mentoring. This is the first study to apply the general construct of a sense of coherence to the specific context of a long-term internship. It demonstrates that strengthening pre-service teachers’ SoC about particular tasks can be an additional resource for mental health promotion during this period. The results suggest that supporting pre-service teachers in perceiving their internship activities as comprehensible, meaningful and manageable can be beneficial and should be externally promoted by the university.

KW - Empirical education research

KW - internship

KW - mentoring

KW - resources

KW - self-efficacy

KW - sense of coherence

KW - teacher education

U2 - 10.18488/61.v13i2.4080

DO - 10.18488/61.v13i2.4080

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 13

SP - 566

EP - 586

JO - International Journal of Education and Practice

JF - International Journal of Education and Practice

SN - 2311-6897

IS - 2

ER -