Intriguing empirical relations between teachers’ resilience and reflection on practice

Abstract

While some teachers experience burnout or literally quit the profession considering their challenging working conditions, others take stress as a challenge and try to improve professionally, a dynamic that could be termed resilience. Literature point out that professional competences are an important personal protective factor enhancing teacher resilience. It also appears that teacher reflection is fairly significant in professional development process. This doctoral study sought to explore the relationship between teachers' resilience and reflection on practice. Twenty-three teachers from seven underprivileged schools participated in this mixed method study. They were invited to complete a quality of work life questionnaire and a daily stress diary, and to participate in a semi-structured interview. The analysis has highlighted four resilience profiles among these teachers: 1) very resilient, 2) resilient, 3) somewhat resilient, and 4) non-resilient. Vertical analysis of four representative cases according to their reflection has shown that low resilience seemed to be related to an increased emphasis on the problems instead of the solutions, and on the environmental instead of the personal reflective contents, and inversely. Despite its limits, this study reveals evidence of empirical relationships between teacher resilience and reflection, and highlights avenues for professional development, and ideas for future research.

Early career teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom: associations with turnover intentions and perceived inadequacy in teacher–student interaction

“…This would provide teachers, schools, and teacher educators the opportunity to anticipate and react to the demands faced during the early years in the classroom. Further investigation is also required on learning-oriented classroom management strategies that would provide early career teachers occasions for active learning in classroom interaction (Grosemans et al, 2015;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014;Wolff et al, 2015). Classroom management as a one-sided matter of discipline does not match with early career teacher's ideal of learning in the classroom.…”

“…The issue of teacher turnover, turnover intentions and ways to cope with emotional classroom experiences should be addressed already in teacher education programs and in safe surroundings with peers in schools (Fresko & Alhija, 2015).Teacher educators and mentors should guide early career teachers towards reciprocal learning in teacher-student interaction, facing socially and pedagogically challenging situations as an opportunity for professional discovery instead of survival, and developing strategies and routines for classroom work that make room for adaptive reflection and active transformation of classroom practices (Leroux & Théorêt, 2014). The challenge is to provide student teachers with experiences of deep collaboration in a school context with a continuity that would enable them to perceive the meaning of peer learning in creating functional teacher-student relationships and developing everyday problem-solving strategies (see Vangrieken, Dochy, Raes, & Kyndt, 2015).…”

Similarities and Differences in Risk and Protective Factors in Teacher Induction for Prospective Elementary and Physical and Health Education Teachers

“…As for the environmental protective factors, finally, both groups of prospective teachers emphasized the importance of eight factors, five in similar proportions and all supported by the relevant literature: good school help and support (Huisman et al, 2010;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014a and b;Leroux, 2010); good administrative support (Beltman et al, 2011;Hong, 2012;Peters et Pearce, 2012); good relationships with pupils (Beltman et al, 2011;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014b;Leroux, 2010); meaningful participation in the decision-making process and in school projects (Leroux, 2010;Tait, 2008); and flexibility and openness in the workplace (Leroux, 2010). Three other factors were identified by both groups but were of prominent importance for prospective PHETs (colleagues' support and good collaboration -35.3% vs. 5.7% for prospective ETs) or prospective ETs (good relationships with school team and good work environment -17.0% vs. 4.4% for prospective PHETs; family and friends' support and encouragement -13.2% vs. 1.5% for PHETs).…”

“…Lack of involvement or self-imposed isolation (Leroux & Théorêt, 2014a) could be seen as a fear of seeking help, only to be perceived as incompetent or unprepared for the job (Shoval, Erlich, & Fejgin, 2010;Tait, 2008). Five other factors were cited less often, but their frequency was similar for both groups, and all are highlighted in the scientific literature: low self-efficacy, low self-confidence (Beltman et al, 2011;Hong, 2012;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014b;Leroux, 2010;Tait, 2008); feeling of isolation, weak sense of belonging (Castro, Kelly, & Shih, 2010); negative feelings (Hong, 2010;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014b;Leroux, 2010;Sharplin et al, 2011); lack of competencies (Leroux, 2010;Leroux & Théorêt, 2014b); and lack of flexibility (Leroux, 2010).…”

“…Lack of school help and support is underscored in the literature (Leroux, 2010;Tait, 2008), as are lack of administrative support (Beltman et al, 2011;Hong, 2010;Huisman et al, 2010), and difficulties with colleagues (Beltman et al, 2011;Castro et al, 2010;Leroux, 2010). This is also the case for heavy workload, lack of time, inappropriate task / assignment, which may be related to entry into the profession (Beltman et al, 2011;Hong, 2012), although workload and lack of time are also mentioned at other stages of the teaching career (Leroux & Théorêt, 2014b;Leroux, 2010). Finally, Beltman et al (2011), Leroux (2010) and Tait (2008) also stressed the difficulties with pupils having special needs.…”