Research shows that when teachers feel well and connected with their colleagues in the workplace, they are less likely to want to leave the profession (Collie, 2023).

Wellbeing and resilience are interconnected, with personal work resilience defined as “the capacity to manage the everyday stress of work while staying healthy, adapting and learning from setbacks and preparing for future challenges pro-actively” (McEwen, 2018, p. 4). To foster a pro-active and solution-oriented approach to challenges in schools, resilience can be understood as an organisational, collective, and individual responsibility. However, a recent study of 46,000 workers found that individual level wellbeing interventions have little sustained impact (Fleming, 2024). For this reason, actions that are designed to enhance and develop teacher resilience will ideally “focus on improving the professional environment as well as looking at ways to enhance teachers’ personal resources” (Ainsworth & Oldfield, 2019). Working conditions–including workload pressure, teacher shortages, relationships with colleagues, and leadership support–make a significant difference (Longmuir et al., 2022).

Fortunately, work environments can be modified through intentional action. Rather than thinking only about ensuring people manage distress in complex work contexts (like schools), monitoring resilience at a workforce level enables the focus to be on updating the work environment itself, so staff are not immersed in workplaces that hinder their ability to be well. This represents a shift towards encouraging personal and interpersonal flourishing and thriving at work. Taking an ecosystem view of resilience understands that multiple factors influence a person’s resilience (Oldfield & Ainsworth, 2022), and that successful interventions will target organisational change and development.

References

Ainsworth, S. & Oldfield, J. (2019). Quantifying teacher resilience: Context matters, Teaching and Teacher Education, 82, 117–128, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.03.012

Collie, R. (2023). Teacher well-being and turnover intentions: Investigating the roles of job resources and job demands, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 712–726.

Fleming, W. J. (2023). Employee well-being outcomes from individual level mental health interventions: Cross-sectional evidence from the United Kingdom. Industrial Relations Journal, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12418

Longmuir, F., Gallo Cordoba, B., Phillips, M., Allen, K.A. & Moharami, M. (2022). Australian Teachers’ Perceptions of their Work in 2022. Monash University. https://doi.org/10.26180/21212891 McEwen, K. (2018). Resilience at work: A framework for coaching and interventions. White Paper. Working with Resilience. https://www.workingwithresilience.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Whitepaper-Sept18.pdf

Oldfield, J., & Ainsworth, S. (2022). Decentring the ‘resilient teacher’: exploring interactions between individuals and their social ecologies, Cambridge Journal of Education, 52(4), 409–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2021.2011139