Teacher trainees' experiences with and beliefs about responding to students' challenging life events

The current study examines teacher trainees' perceptions of their preparation in helping students address specific challenging life events (CLE) of bullying, death, and family separation. 121 pre-service teachers in the United States completed a survey and slightly under half reported having no experience with addressing children's CLEs in their pre-graduation employment or other formal training. Participants felt moderately prepared to address bullying and less prepared to address death of a loved one or family separation. Participants' proposed responses varied based on the type of CLE; some gender and age differences also emerged. Results highlight the need for training pre-service teachers responding to students' CLEs, based on feelings of unpreparedness and the frequency of CLEs children experience yearly.