Teacher Resilience
Definition
Teacher resilience can be defined as the extent to which a teacher is able to maintain a set
of positive attributes regarding their work as a teacher in the face of dealing with a range of
challenges, pressures and demands inherent in their work as a teacher. Key features within
this set of positive attributes comprise:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
attitudes towards their work tasks (e.g. classroom teaching, administration, pastoral
care, curriculum development, assessment);
attitudes towards those with whom they interact (e.g. pupils, colleagues, parents);
job satisfaction, motivation and commitment;
job performance.
The teacher resilience continuum
Teacher resilience is not a ‘state’ - rather it refers to the extent to which a teacher is able to
resist moving towards the negative end of a continuum which ranges from positive
attributes to negative attributes (as indicated above). The negative end of this continuum
has much in common with the notion of teacher burnout – a state of physical, emotional
and attitudinal exhaustion resulting from an inability to cope adequately with job demands,
and in particular by the level of stress generated by their work.
Resilience initially can be thought of in terms of the friction that prevents or resists the
downward slide of a block on an incline. However the metaphor of friction is limited, as
another important component of resilience is the ability to ‘bounce back’ following a slide.
Positive attributes can easily be undermined by numerous aspects of the complexity of a
teacher’s working life (e.g. failure to gain a promotion; falling out with a colleague; pupils
not submitting essential coursework). Frustrations are a common part of a teacher’s
working life. A key feature of resilience is the ability to move back towards the positive end
of this continuum on a regular basis.
Teacher resilience and career phases
In each phase of a teacher’s career they will face a mix of challenges, some of which will
lead to positive experiences and others to negative experiences. Positive experiences are
likely to enhance resilience whilst negative experiences are likely to undermine resilience
(see column headed ‘challenges’ in Table 1). What is crucial here is how teachers respond to
negative experiences. How well can they overcome periods of self-doubt, disenchantment?
What do they do to ‘bounce back’? (see column headed ‘resilience’ in Table 1).
Table 1: Teacher resilience across career phases
Career Phase
Early career
Mid career
Late career
Challenges
Positive
Negative
Experiences
Experiences
Workload
Discipline
Finance
Renewal
Promotion
Responsibilities
Change
Routine
Energy
Managing others
Accountability
Obsolescence
Enhancing resilience
The factors that contribute to enhancing resilience include:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
Building up the skills needed to deal with demands
Changing work practices
Avoiding areas of vulnerability
Taking advice
Making use of social support
Adopting positive mental strategies
Having out-of-school interests
Other factors
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Personality (including self-efficacy beliefs)
Consequences
Options
Dr Chris Kyriacou, University of York, 25th May 2010
Resilience
Positive
Negative
Responses
Responses
Developing Competence
Expertise and Rejuvenation
Comfort and Challenge