Research Questions

 Does every teacher need to have the capacity to be resilient?

• Do teachers’ capacities to be resilient fluctuate? 
• If so, how do teachers’ capacities to be resilient fluctuate in relation to routine/daily and non-routine/unanticipated challenges?
• What are the processes of coping with and/or managing the challenges?
• Are there differences between ‘coping’ and ‘managing’ strategies in teaching?
• What enables or disables teachers to maintain and regenerate their capacities to be resilient?
• How do school leadership and school context influence teachers’ individual and collective capacity to be resilient?
• What are the implications for pre-service and in-service education?

Theoretical Framework

 Recent research in education has recognised the importance of teacher resilience that enables teachers to teach to their best despite various challenges (i.e., Brunetti, 2006; Castro, Kelly, & Shih, 2010; Day & Gu, 2014; Gu & Day, 2007; Hong, 2012). As Kelchtermans (1996) noted, teaching is a vulnerable process and such vulnerability is provoked by various challenges at classroom, school, local, and/or national levels. Historically, psychology literature (i.e., family therapy, counselling, and at-risk youth literature) has tended to address resilience in relation to stressors or risk factors and successful adaption to those (Goldstein & Brooks, 2006; Patterson, 2002; Wright & Masten, 2006). This literature has been challenged more recently as presenting an unduly limited perspective upon the nature of resilience. Recent positive psychology focuses upon ‘well-being’ and ‘flourishing’ (Fredrickson, 2001; Keyes & Haidt, 2003), and socio-cultural research has acknowledged the ways in which social conditions influence capacities for resilience (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Oswald, Johnson, & Howard, 2003). All of these theoretical perspectives need to be considered in investigating the landscape of teacher resilience. 

For teachers, stressors or risk factors may exist not only in the form of occasional or unanticipated challenges, but also in their daily working conditions, and these may vary over time. Also, there may be differences between coping and managing. In the psychology literature, “successful adaptation” often means restoring balance between the demands (stressors and strains) and capabilities (resources and coping behaviours) (Patterson, 2002). However, resilient teachers who teach to their best not only restore the balance between demands and capabilities by simply coping to the challenges, but also they manage the challenges actively and proactively. This implies that resilience is a latent capacity and that teachers’ capacity to be resilient is not a static or fixed trait but may fluctuate in relation to the characteristics of internal and external challenges, personal resources (i.e., efficacy, motivation, and sense of vocation), relationship dynamics with students, parents, colleagues, school leaders, and personal or professional life circumstances (Day & Gu, 2014).

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