STUDENT teachers are complaining of stress before they even reach the profession, an academic has warned.

Linda Brownlow, deputy head of Strathclyde University's School of Education, said institutions needed to look closely at the trend to ensure students were supported.

Her comments follow a survey by the Scottish Parliament's education committee which found workloads, high levels of stress and low pay were among the factors threatening to impede trainee teachers from embarking on a career in the classroom.

The Holyrood survey said two fifths of trainee teachers said they were already unsure whether they would consider teaching as a lifelong career.

Reasons given included the lack of time for planning, onerous tracking and assessment of pupils, long working hours, poor pay and lack of support.

Mrs Brownlow said: "In the student population we have seen an increase in reporting of stress and anxiety. All students have close links with tutors and we work in a team approach so students have someone to talk to.

"It does worry me that even before they are teaching they are talking about issues of stress and as universities we have to look at that.

"We have to ask what are the causes of stress, is it because we are expecting too much of them or do they have other concerns and we need to do more work on that."

Mrs Brownlow went on to defend the quality of teacher education in Scotland after concerns raised at Holyrood's education committee over basic standards.

She said: "We have taken an absolute battering ... in terms of what we do in literacy and numeracy and health and wellbeing.

"No-one is the finished article, but we feel students who come out of universities are pretty well equipped and anecdotally teachers and headteachers will tell us the same."