How can teacher resilience be protected and promoted?

Aims: These are challenging times for the entire education community, with an estimated 50,000 teachers leaving the profession every year. In order to inform educational psychologists’ understanding and practice, this paper offers a systematic review of the literature surrounding the relatively young concept of teacher resilience, along with the multi-layered conditions that may promote it. Method/Rationale: The review takes the form of a meta-ethnography. Following a systematic search of the literature, a small number of relevant, qualitative studies are identified and analysed. Key concepts from each paper are then synthesised, allowing interpretations to be made and a new model of teacher resilience to be constructed. Findings: It was found that teacher resilience can be characterised as a collection of dynamic interactions between four broad constructs: thoughts, relationships, actions, and challenges. Teachers’ relationships with key others and the actions they take (e.g. problem-solving) may act – often in combination – as a buffer, which protects their beliefs about themselves and/or their role from external challenges. Limitations: As with any meta-ethnography, the findings of this in-depth but small-scale review are open to alternative interpretations. Conclusions: With the right support, teacher resilience can be protected and promoted. Providing such support must, therefore, be a national priority. This responsibility must be shared primarily between school leaders, government policy makers and teachers themselves. Suggestions about the various contributions EPs can make to this process are offered.