Assessing the impact of the European resilience curriculum in preschool, early and late primary school children

Abstract

Resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt successfully to and persevere during and after significant challenges. Resilience programmes based on a socioemotional learning approach have been associated with an increase in protextive factors (e.g., prosocial competencies), improvements in physical and mental health, and a decrease in internalised and externalised symptoms. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of the RESCUR curriculum implemented in Portuguese schools on students’ academic, behavioural, and socioemotional outcomes, based on child and teacher reports. Participants included 1,084 children (53.2% male) aged 3-15 ( M = 7.24, SD = 2.31). A quasi-experimental study compared outcomes for an experimental intervention group (AIG) with a waiting list control group (WG). The results showed the RESCUR programme decreased mental health difficulties while increasing both prosocial behaviours and well-being. In addition, academic performance increased for those in preschool after implementation. Both teachers and children consistently reported positive behavioural changes in resilience-related competencies after implementing RESCUR. Our findings contribute to the recent research on the potential of RESCUR to address key socioemotional competencies and improve relevant protextive factors. Study limitations and future recommendations are addressed.

The impact of a Curriculum for Resilience Promotion in Deaf Children and Adolescents

“…Moreover, these improvements in the different dimensions are in line with those obtained with hearing children not only in other regions of the country as in a study by Simões et al. (2021) but also in Italy (Cavioni et al, 2018) in Malta (Cefai et al, 2018) and Greece (Matsopoulos et al, 2020).…”

“…The European Curriculum for Resilience Promotion -RESCUR was developed through a European project to provide resources to help children face their adversities. RESCUR is a universal curriculum intended to be implemented in schools by educators and teachers (Cefai et al, 2014;Simões et al, 2016Simões et al, , 2021. This curriculum aims to promote and develop cognitive, social and emotional skills to empower children to grow and prosper academically, socially and economically, even when they are faced with significant challenges or adversities (Cefai et al, 2015).…”

Classroom Assignments for Fostering Resilience–An Instructional Design Model on Affective Personality Development

“…From a practical point of view, it is also important to establish a connection between the curriculum elements of resilience and valid measurements of resilience for students in schools. Successful examples of how resilience can be combined with curricular measures can be found in Simões et al (2021). Overviews of schoolrelevant measurement methods of resilience can be found in Gartland et al (2011) and Caleon & King (2021).…”

The association between peer relationship and learning engagement among adolescents: The chain mediating roles of self-efficacy and academic resilience

“…Academic resilience influences adolescents’ learning engagement ( Cheung et al, 2014 ). Students with academic resilience tend to express higher levels of achievement despite risks and difficulties ( Simões et al, 2021 ). Romano et al (2021) have argued that students with a higher level of academic resilience show a higher level of learning engagement.…”