Teacher Resiliency: A Key to Career Longevity

“Don’t sweat the small stuff:” Understanding teacher resilience at the chalkface

“…According to this research, teachers who possess characteristics of resilient individuals are more likely to persevere in adverse situations, find it easier to adapt to change and ultimately may be less inclined to consider leaving the profession. Attributes such as a strong sense of competence, efficacy and accomplishment, humour (Bobek, 2002), purposeful career decision making, self-insight, professional freedom, agency (Sumsion, 2004) and use of coping strategies (Sharplin, O'Neill, & Chapman, 2011) have been identified as important. Conversely, teachers less able to manage the emotional (resilience related) aspects of their working lives are more likely to experiences stress and burnout (Chang, 2009).…”

“…The majority of research describes resilience as involving a process (Bobek, 2002;Egeland, Carlson & Sroufe, 1993;Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990), a "mode of interacting with events" (Tait, 2008, p. 58), an ability or capacity to overcome challenges (Sammons et al, 2007) and a trait or a quality (Brunetti, 2006;Yost, 2006). Many definitions also acknowledge that particular contexts offer risk and protective factors (see for example, Cefai, 2007) which can constrain or promote development and demonstration of resilience.…”

“…Strong interpersonal skills that enable the development of social support networks (Howard & Johnson, 2004;Tait, 2008) have also been noted. Finally, and perhaps most obviously, teaching skills such as using a range of instructional practices (Bobek, 2002;Klusmann, Kunter, Trautwein, Lüdtke, & Baumert, 2008), knowing students and responding to their needs (Flores, 2006;Kaldi, 2009), professional reflection (Goddard & Foster, 2001;Le Cornu, 2009) and having a commitment to ongoing professional learning (Patterson, et al, 2004;Sumsion, 2004) have been related to teacher resilience. Furthermore, not only having the skills, but having high levels of efficacy for teaching (Brunetti, 2006; and being confident in teaching abilities (Kaldi, 2009;Woolfolk Hoy & Burke Spero, 2005) also play a role in teacher resilience.…”

“…Among these are protective factors that include attributes such as altruism (Brunetti, 2006;Chong & Low, 2009), strong intrinsic motivation (Flores, 2006;Kitching, Morgan, & O'Leary, 2009), perseverance and persistence (Fleet, Kitson, Cassady, & Hughes, 2007;Sinclair, 2008), optimism (Chong & Low, 2009;Le Cornu, 2009), sense of humour (Bobek, 2002;Jarzabkowski, 2002), emotional intelligence (Chan, Lau, Nie, Lim, & Hogan, 2008), willingness to take risks (Sumsion, 2003) and flexibility (Le Cornu, 2009). Such attributes may assist early career teachers to 'bounce back' despite the challenges of the first years of teaching.…”

“…Examples of broad 'manifestations' of resilience in the literature were examined, such as emotional and social competence and futures oriented (Knight, 2007), personal strengths including social competence, problem solving, autonomy, purpose/future (Benard, 2004), resources such as relationships, sense of responsibility, social and problem solving skills, competence, expectations and goals, confidence, humour, and a sense of accomplishment (Bobek, 2002).…”