Individual Resilience as a Competency for Aviation Professionals: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Graduates from aviation and aerospace technical and engineering disciplines emerge with certifications and academic coursework to fulfill the respective degree requirements, but may still lack fluency in key non-technical competencies to fully leverage their professional credentials and academic preparation. Due to the applied nature of the aviation and aerospace disciplines, problem-based learning approaches implicitly seek to incorporate and develop such skills as part of the educational experience. Individual resilience is one example of a nontechnical competency sought by employers across high consequence, technology-based industries. However, a stronger shift from traditional lecture/lab course formats to more in-depth problem-based approaches can cause some learners to retreat from challenges due to early failures or from lack of sufficiently developed recovery techniques. This paper presents a theoretical model of individual resilience for applied engineering and technology-based learners. Such a model could assist instructors tailor pedagogical experiences to more fully integrate resilience during academic preparation. Toward this end, a cross-domain review from seminal and modern research on resilience theory from aviation/aerospace, education, medical and psychology literature was conducted. Five common resilience themes emerged: (1) Adversity persistence/perseverance; (2) Contextual awareness (picture making; visualizing and assessing problems and synthesizing decision strategies); (3) Self-directed/learning autonomy; (4) Change management and innovation, and (5) Social connectivity (peer relationships). The paper concludes with suggestions for next steps toward a practical teaching and learning resilience model for educators. scenarios to facilitate learners in establishing a continuously "inquisitive, resilient, critical thinking approach" to open-ended, problem-based learning that replicates industry [4]. Yet metrics for educators for strategic insertion and assessing successful integration remain a challenge [3, pp. 3-4].Consistent with earlier research on aviation workforce competencies [5], in a 2019 industry survey of U.S. and Latin American aerospace manufacturers and aviation maintenance and repair organizations, 70% of the respondents identified people/social, teamwork and problem-solving competencies just as important as technical skill sets, and lack of higher-level professional competencies were cited as a leading basis for new hire technicians' failure to succeed through probationary hiring phases in aerospace manufacturing [6]. Leaders across technology-driven industry express similar needs. As one Senior Economic Economist articulated, "learning agility…able to do fast, quick-learning research on the job instead of a three to five year traditional idea of research…there is a growing skills gap in the local labor force who need to blend these and collaboration skills into daily routines and it is supremely important to cross train people in how to problem solve, understand and use data" ...

Formation of Farming Community Resilience Models for Sustainable Agricultural Development at the Mining Neighborhood in Southeast Sulawesi Indonesia

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