Thriving not just surviving: A review of research on teacher resilience

Abstract

Retaining teachers in the early stages of the profession is a major issue of concern in many countries. Teacher resilience is a relatively recent area of investigation which provides a way of understanding what enables teachers to persist in the face of challenges and offers a complementary perspective to studies of stress, burnout and attrition. We have known for many years that teaching can be stressful, particularly for new teachers, but little appears to have changed. This paper reviews recent empirical studies related to the resilience of early career teachers. Resilience is shown to be the outcome of a dynamic relationship between individual risk and protective factors. Individual attributes such as altruistic motives and high self-efficacy are key individual protective factors. Contextual challenges or risk factors and contextual supports or protective factors can come from sources such as school administration, colleagues, and pupils. Challenges for the future are to refine conceptualisations of teacher resilience and to develop and examine interventions in multiple contexts. There are many opportunities for those who prepare, employ and work with prospective and new teachers to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors and so enable new teachers to thrive, not just survive.

Introduction

Teacher resilience is a relatively recent area of investigation. While the stresses that face teachers in their daily lives have been well documented (e.g. Goddard and Foster, 2001, Tait, 2008), more recently researchers have focused on teacher resilience i.e. what sustains teachers and enables them to thrive rather than just survive in the profession (e.g. Gu and Day, 2007, Kitching et al., 2009, Sumsion, 2003). As the retention of early career teachers is a significant current concern in many countries (Scheopner, 2010), examining factors that sustain teachers as they move from the pre-service to the early career stage will assist in addressing these issues (Tait, 2008). Rather than consider the form of retention that is “physical continuation in the role”, we focus on “quality retention” (Gu & Day, 2007, p. 1314), where motivation and commitment are maintained as teachers are able to meet the challenges encountered in their work and lives and “thrive professionally”.

Initially the term ‘resilience’ was used to explain the capacity of individuals to adapt and thrive despite experiencing adversity (Garmezy, 1974; Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990). However, it has been subsequently shown that resilience is not solely a personal attribute, but is a complex construct resulting from a dynamic relationship between risk and protective factors (Benard, 2004). As an emerging field of research, and in part due to the complex nature of resilience, teacher resilience has been conceptualised in the literature in a range of ways (Bobek, 2002, Le Cornu, 2009). Such a range of conceptualisations is important to address the multi-dimensional nature of resilience, but also contributes to ambiguity about the nature of resilience and how to best examine this phenomenon. Teacher resilience has been investigated using a variety of methodologies, ranging from qualitative, in depth case studies to broader quantitative measures. In short, the literature regarding teacher resilience is varied in its theoretical basis and scope. The literature also has the potential to reveal implications for pre-service programmes, for schools, for employers and for the teachers themselves to ensure that teachers become and remain healthy, effective professionals.

As teacher resilience is an emerging field of research there appear to be pockets of research that directly deal with teacher resilience and others that examine related constructs. What is missing however, is a comprehensive review of the current empirical research. This review aims to address this need by bringing together and synthesising the diverse body of current research, raising challenges and issues and pointing to areas for future work. Therefore the paper will provide a timely and unique contribution to the field, complementing existing bodies of literature that examine teacher attrition, stress and burn out. As suggested by Christopher Day:

Research on teacher retention tends to focus on factors affecting teachers’ decision to leave the teaching profession. Instead, what is required is a better understanding of the factors that have enabled the majority of teachers to sustain their motivation, commitment and, therefore, effectiveness in the profession (Day, 2008, p. 256).

Given these conditions, we aim to present a systematic review of recent empirical studies focusing on the following key questions:

• What methodologies have been used to examine teacher resilience?

• How is teacher resilience conceptualised?

• What are the key risk and protective factors for teacher resilience and how do these relate to each other?

• What are the implications for pre-service teacher education programmes, schools and employers?