Session Information
10 SES 06 B, Research on Professional Knowledge and Identity in Teacher Education: Teachers' Resilience
Paper Session
Contribution
The paper will report on the outcomes of an ESRC funded Seminar Series on the nature of resilience in teachers. This Series of four seminars brought together scholars - practitioners from universities, schools, social work, occupational health and policy organisations in the UK. The Series aimed to build new research and evidence informed knowledge about the nature of and influences in teachers' different life and work contexts which could be applied to policies and practices in relation to teaching standards and teacher well-being.
In recent times, teachers' work in many Western countries has been populated by successive government policy reforms which have been documented as having predominantly negative effects on teacher recruitment, morale and retention. Yet large numbers of teachers have managed to sustain their psychological resilience and continue to give their best. This focus on resilience, then, is not only new but also important for three reasons: Firstly, teaching is a demanding job in which, like other public services, there are high levels of stress through the changing educational culture and political climate; Secondary, psychological resilience, defined as the capacity to continue to 'bounce back', to adapt, to recover strengths quickly and efficiently in the face of adversity, is closely allied to a strong sense of vocation, self-efficacy and motivation to teach which are fundamental to a concern for promoting well being and achievement in all aspects of students' lives. Thirdly, it follows from the above that, especially in current and continuing top performance contexts, resilience must prove an important factor in teacher recruitment and retention.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Luthans, 2002 Luthans et al, 2007 Masten and Reed, 2002
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