Teacher wellbeing and resilience: towards an integrative model

Abstract

Background: Teacher wellbeing and teacher resilience are frequently used constructs when discussing and researching teachers' work and lives. However, these terms are often used interchangeably and without clarification, highlighting a need to strengthen both conceptual clarity and understanding of the relationship between wellbeing and resilience in teacher research. Purpose: To address this need, our discussion paper examines how teacher wellbeing and teacher resilience have been conceptualised and introduces an integrative model that aims to elucidate the relationship between the two. Sources of evidence and main argument: First, we reviewed papers that addressed teacher wellbeing as well as teacher resilience during the last 10 years. In terms of their relationship, we identified four different positions. The most prominent position was that teacher resilience supports the maintenance and development of teacher wellbeing. Second, based on these findings, we developed the Aligning Wellbeing and Resilience in Education (AWaRE) model to specify the relationship between the two constructs and the key aspects of a resilience process. We explain the framework, the individual components of the model and outline the crucial role of appraisals and emotions within the resilience process. We also discuss how this model contributes to the field and may be used as a framework for future research. Conclusion:The AWaRE model describes a resilience process that is embedded in contextual as well as individual challenges and resources. Within the process, the individual teacher aims at maintaining, restoring and developing their wellbeing. Further research is needed, including empirical validation of the model across the teaching profession. However, the AWaRE model is proposed as a useful tool that can help to clarify the constructs of resilience and wellbeing in educational contexts, and can assist educational practitioners to better understand the resilience process.

In the Midst of a Pandemic

“…Both constraints and enablers were evident at personal, relational, and organizational levels, and the same category, such as health or students or government policies, acted as both a constraint and an enabler, sometimes at the same time for an individual participant. Such “ambivalent” findings have been reported from similar studies in other countries (Hascher et al, 2021, p. 8) and align with research on relational resilience where groups such as students and colleagues, while perhaps presenting challenges, may also act as a source of support as positive relationships are formed (Papatraianou et al, 2018). The individual differences noted reflect the multiple possible combinations of factors that can be relevant for individuals (Yonezawa et al, 2011) who live and work within multiple, dynamic contexts (Day & Gu, 2010).…”

“…Within this approach, the AWaRE (Aligning Well-being and Resilience in Education) model is adopted. This illustrates the relationship between teacher well-being and teacher resilience (Hascher et al, 2021). In brief, where teachers appraise events as threatening to well-being, the resilience process is activated and various strategies are implemented to restore well-being.…”

“…Resilience has a role in developing, maintaining, and restoring teacher well-being (Hascher et al, 2021). When individuals face significant adversity, Ungar (2012, p. 17) maintains that: … resilience is both the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their wellbeing, and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided in culturally meaningful ways. Thus, teacher resilience, rather than being an innate individual characteristic, involves the process of using strategies to harness individual and contextual resources to sustain well-being (Gu & Li, 2013).…”

Linking supportive school leadership and teacher resilience: The mediating role of job resources

“…The third encompasses these two aspects and manifests itself through resilience outcomes that are meaningful for the teacher, the teaching process, and the school as an organization. This includes coping with stressful events (Seville et al, 2008), academic performance (Day and Gu, 2014;Banerjee et al, 2019;Karabıyık, 2020), classroom management (Brown et al, 2021), job satisfaction (Polat and Iskender, 2018), teacher professionalism (Sheridan et al, 2022), wellbeing (Hascher et al, 2021a), organizational commitment (Polat and Iskender, 2018) and work engagement (Xie, 2021).…”

Tears and cheers: A narrative inquiry of a doctoral student’s resilience in study abroad

“…This model revealed the dynamic nature of the resilience-building process, which is in line with the aforementioned developmental nature of resilience. An investigation of the experience of a doctoral student in a cross-cultural context in this research is informed by this three-stage model of resilience building and the growing literature on the significance of resilience in many aspects of our lives ranging from teacher wellbeing ( Hascher et al, 2021 ) and career enjoyment ( Proietti Ergün and Dewaele, 2021 ) to learner motivation and language learning proficiency ( Kim and Kim, 2017 ; Kim et al, 2019 ).…”