Predictors of Happiness and Life Satisfaction among University Teacher-Trainees on Internship

The study investigated the factors that drive happiness and life satisfaction among university teacher trainees on school practice internship. It was a purely qualitative study that employed explorative methods and a phenomenological design because it dealt with the subjective experiences about happiness and life satisfaction during internship as a phenomenon. It was conducted on a population of 25 participants drawn from a total population of about 700 teacher trainees on internship placement. The respondents were selected using both purposive and convenient sampling technique. These methods were preferred because purposively, the respondents were teacher trainees on internship and conveniently, they were under the supervision of the corresponding author. Data was collected using in depth interviews and analysed using themes and narratives drawn from the transcribed data. Results’ presentation, analysis and discussions was done concurrently. The findings revealed that happiness and life satisfaction among teacher trainees on internship school practice placement is determined by economic and financial drivers, supervision processes, collegial social support and connections, student or learner attributes, logistical provisions and follow up factors. As a result of the findings, universities invested in teacher training and schools hosting internship teacher trainees are required to boost the university-based and school-based factors in order to promote happiness and life satisfaction among the trainees respectively through provision of teaching practice logistics, supervisor support and evaluation, student/learner discipline, as conditions aimed at enhancing happiness, for the end goals of academic achievement