Children in situations of stress, neglect and risk are part of the diverse population that preschool teachers meet during their internship year, first year as preschool teachers. Intern teachers experience many challenges in their first year.  They are required to act independently and master a wide range of skills from the beginning of the year such as  relations with parents and staff members as well  as coping with behavior problems ( Bracha & Bocos 2015)Teachers report a lack of professional and helpful tools in coping with their students’ stressful events. (Wajid, Garner & Owen)

 The term stress refers to an array of psychological responses to pressure and distress resulting from a physical or psychological event. Stressful situations occur when the perceived stress exceed the coping resources. Stressful life events in children life may vary from mild stressors as a birth of a sibling to major stressors as abuse (Onchwari, 2010). Continuous stress inhibits the emotional and cognitive development of children. Leading to adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes (McEwan 2017; Sapolsky 2015). Such situations can be traced, for example, to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Extended periods of lockdown led to an increase in complaints about sexual offenses and domestic violence.  (Conrad - Hiebner & Byram 2020;Arazi and Sabag, 2022)

Children who experience abuse are at a higher risk of dropping out and developmental difficulties. Due to the severity of these challenging consequences, an educator’s ability to support children in stressful events is of utmost importance. (Walsh & Farrell 2008), Teachers were found as a main source of support in coping with life under stress, (Werner, 2003). Cicchettti and Valentino (Cicchettti & Valentino 2006) present a theoretical model based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. (Bronfenbrener & Morris 1998) the model deals with the balance between intensifying risk  factors such as  duration of risk ,  and moderating factors like supportive and sensitive relationships with educators acting  as compensatory attachment figures.

However, although there is increasing recognition of the importance of integrating social-emotional content in teachers’ training, many teachers lack training in these skills (Waajid, Garner, & Owen, 2013). 

 Work overload, coupled with emotional stress, may lead to a situation called "compassion fatigue”. The fear of dealing with a child’s report of abuse, leads teachers to treat   abuse and stress as topics that should be dealt by certified professionals, such as counselors and psychologists (Lev-Wiesel and Izkovich 2019).

 There is a limited body of knowledge in this area. Furthermore, most of the existing knowledge regards school teachers ( Lev-Wiesel and Izkovich 2019,) and only a fraction deals with the training of preschool teachers (Onchwari, 2010).

This study examines the attitudes of preschool teachers in their first year of employment (internship) in regards to their competence to deal with stressful situations among preschoolers. Situations caused by domestic issues, from within the educational system or social and collective stress factors, such as national security or a pandemic. The effectiveness of their training during their three years program and their attitudes towards their role in dealing with stressful situations in relation to other professionals such as psychologists and educational counselors.

Research questions

• What are the emotional attitudes of preschool teachers in their internship year regarding their competence to deal with children experiencing stressful situations?
• Do preschool teachers in their internship year perceive dealing with stressful situations among children as part of their job?
• How do preschool teachers evaluate the training that they have received to deal with stressful situations among children?
• How did covid 19- effected their coping with stressful situations

In order to get a comprehensive and diverse picture of the complex subject matter, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodology was implemented using both questionnaires and In-depth interviews (Mixed Methods). Participants. Data was collected among 66 preschool teachers in their first year of employment. (internship) Graduates of the Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv in the preschool education program, who have completed three full years of study and are practicing preschool teachers. The participants were recruited through an online invitation. The study included 20 preschool teachers in mainstream preschools, (30%) and 46 preschool teachers in special education preschools. (70%) 25 preschool teachers (38%) served as leading preschools teachers, 41 preschool teachers (62%) served as supplemental preschool teachers. Semi-structured interviews were held with 12 interviewees. The interviewees responded to an invitation distributed to the participants of the internship workshops Research tools An anonymous questionnaire was filled by the participants: Intern Preschool teachers perceived competence to cope with preschool children's’ stressful situations, based on (Onchwari, 2010) The questionnaire included 4 parts: 1. Perceived competence to deal with stressful situations in three main domains b. Family related stressors. Abuse and non-abuse stressors c. Stress factors related to the educational framework. Stuff and peer group relationship d. Stressors related to society. Poverty. War threats The first part included items that were measurd by a Likert scale ranging from 1- not competent at all to 5- very competent 2. Coping resources - The resources that the participant may use in dealing with stressful situations among children. 3. The role and responsibility of preschool teachers in dealing with stressful situations among children. This items was measured on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree. 4. Coping with stressful situation among children through covid-19 pandemic. Interviews Semi-structured in-depth interviews were held. The interview questions corresponded with the four parts of the questioner such as what is your experience with identifying and supporting children in stressful life events? , how do you perceive your competence in regard to other professionals? Data Analysis The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. In light of the large amount of data collected, the material was separated into clusters, such as abuse and non-abuse, stress factors in the family Triangulation was conducted between the qualitative and quantitative data. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Themes were extracted from all the interviews, and each of the researchers analyzed the interviews separately.

The research has examined intern teachers’ competence to cope with Stressful life events .Stressors were examined in three Ares : within the family including suspected abuse , stressful life events in the kindergarten and coping with stressors in society such as political unrest or pandemic. The results of both interviews and questionnaires indicate that preschool teachers reported low levels of competence to deal with situations of abuse, (M=2.00, SD=1.25). They preferred to refer the matter to a veteran teacher, counselors or psychologists and felt that their direct conversation with the children may cause harm (M=4.06;SD=1.2). These findings are consistent with previous studies that describe difficulties among teachers' in dealing with complex emotional content. (Mclaughlin 2000) Preschool teachers reported difficulty in dealing with stressful situations during the COVID-19 pandemic due to remote learning. In contrast to those findings, when coping with non-abuse stressful situations within the family and in the preschool environment, the findings show that the participants reported higher levels of competence (M=3.36; SD=1.27) The findings of this study demonstrate the need to train early childhood educators to deal with children experiencing abuse. Abuse is a complex issue that evokes feelings of difficulty and incompetence among preschool teachers, (Walsh & Farrell 2008). An adjustment of the curriculum should be considered in terms of Course Content and Scope. We should also consider providing support to preschool teachers at the beginning of their journey, when they are dealing with children in various situations of abuse. In an era where the role of a preschool teacher is constantly changing. The training of preschool teachers to cope with divers stress experience among children is still lacking

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