ESRC Seminar Series: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into the Nature of Resilience in Teachers: Retention and Effectiveness in Times of Change

Project information

This website presents ideas and outputs emerging from an ESRC seminar series about teachers and resilience.

"Resilience is not an individual trait, but arises through interactions between people."

Publications

• Key messages booklet - Beyond Survival: Teachers and Resilience
• Gu, Q. and Day, C. (2007) Teachers resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education 23, 8, 1302-1316.
• Edwards, A. (2007) Working Collaboratively to Build Resilience: a CHAT approach, Social Policy and Society. 6, 2, 255-265.

Seminars

This national interdisciplinary seminar series was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), an independent, government-funded body.

Seminars were attended by teachers, university academics from across the UK and abroad, research students, national organisations concerned with teacher standards and teacher well being and local government school improvement officers. Inputs to the seminars were drawn from these groups and other national and international researchers.

Over the course of four seminars, the series explored different approaches to understanding and fostering resilience amongst teachers in schools and other professional groups. 

The series was coordinated by Professor Christopher Day and Dr Qing Gu (School of Education, University of Nottingham), Professor Tom Cox and Professor Amanda Griffiths (Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of Nottingham) and Professor Anne Edwards (Department of Education, University of Oxford).

Seminar one: Mapping the Research and Policy Contexts

• Anne Edwards, Oxford University, ' Position Statement on Resilience'
• Hilary Emery, TDA, 'TDA Perspectives on Resilience' 
• Julian Stanley, Teacher Support Network, 'TSN Perspectives on Resilience' 

Seminar two: Examining the Conceptual Terrain

• Anne Edwards, Oxford University, 'Resilience as a concept from a cultural historical perspective' 
• Tom Cox and Amanda Griffiths, University of Nottingham, 'Teacher Resilience from the Perspective of Occupational Health Psychology'

Seminar three: Lessons from the Field

• Anne Edwards, Oxford University, 'Teacher Resilience Seminar 3: Lessons from the Field' 
• Graham Hanscomb, Essex County Council and David Crowe, The Boswells School, 'More is Better. Developing leadership; developing resilience' 
• Helen Lockett, Centre for Mental Health, 'The management of common mental health problems in the workplace' 

Seminar four: Implications for Research, Policy and Practice

• Anne Edwards, Oxford University, 'Agency Motives and Practices'
• Amanda Griffiths, University of Nottingham, 'Resilience: Broadening the Perspectives' 
• Tom Cox, University of Nottingham, 'ESRC Seminars on Resilience in Teachers and Teaching: Personal Reflections'