During the internship semester, student teachers have to juggle different demands from the university and the internship-school. The aim of the study was to investigate stress factors inherent to the German internship semester and to analyse their predictive influence on positive and negative strain reactions. 214 teaching master students completed self-report-questionnaires on their experiences of demands and strains at the end and, in some cases, at the beginning of their internship. Based on Rudow’s (1994) and Bakker & Demerouti’s (2007) theoretical models of the
stress-strain relationship two areas of demands were identified as stress-inducing using regression analyses: unequal role perceptions between students and their mentors and workload. This study supports the notion that the internship semester is perceived as satisfactory overall. However, results also point to potential health-impairing demands related to the workload and the collaboration with mentors. By including the students’ perspective, the present study draws attention to structu-
ral problems that are of practical relevance for the future organisation of internship semesters.