ANXIETIES OF BEGINNING PHYSICAL-EDUCATION TEACHERS

The early years of a teacher's career have been recognized as being stressful. Some of the causes of anxiety may be the same as for experienced teachers - e.g. concern with discipline, motivating pupils, dealing with individual differences - but some may be unique to inexperienced teachers - e.g. concern about classroom management. This study looked at causes of anxiety in 104 physical education teachers in their first or second year of teaching, with six or 18 months' teaching experience respectively, who were administered a questionnaire in February 199 1. Results showed that these teachers were relatively anxious about teaching, with most anxiety being caused by assessment by school staff and/or the adviser, followed by how school staff may react to one or more unsuccessful lessons if they should occur. Least anxiety was caused by completing lesson plans in the required form and then co-operation with the school staff. Factor analysis yielded four factors. These were: Being evaluated, Discipline, Paperwork and Getting on with school staff. Thus most anxiety for teachers at the beginning of their career appeared to result from evaluation of their performance rather than the mechanics of teaching - e.g. classroom management or lesson preparation.