What are the most effective strategies for promoting teacher resilience?

1 What is teacher resilience?

Teacher resilience is not a fixed trait that some teachers have and others lack. Rather, it is a dynamic process that involves personal, relational, and contextual factors. Personal factors include teachers' beliefs, values, goals, emotions, and coping skills. Relational factors include teachers' interactions and support from colleagues, mentors, students, and families. Contextual factors include teachers' working conditions, resources, policies, and culture. Teacher resilience is influenced by how teachers perceive, interpret, and respond to the challenges and opportunities they encounter in their practice.

2 Why is teacher resilience important?

Teacher resilience is important for several reasons. First, it can enhance teachers' well-being and reduce their burnout, stress, and turnover. Second, it can improve teachers' professional growth and development, as they learn from their experiences and seek new ways to improve their practice. Third, it can benefit teachers' students and schools, as resilient teachers are more likely to create positive learning environments, foster student engagement and achievement, and contribute to school improvement.

3 How can mentoring support teacher resilience?

Mentoring is a powerful strategy for supporting teacher resilience, especially for novice teachers who face the transition from teacher education to the classroom. Mentoring can provide teachers with emotional, informational, and instructional support, as well as feedback, guidance, and modeling. Mentoring can also help teachers develop a sense of belonging, identity, and agency in their profession. By building trusting and collaborative relationships with mentors, teachers can gain confidence, competence, and satisfaction in their work.

4 What are the key features of effective mentoring for teacher resilience?

Effective mentoring for teacher resilience is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be tailored to each teacher and mentor. To enhance the quality and impact of mentoring, it should align with the vision, mission, and values of the school and the profession, as well as the standards and expectations for teacher performance and development. Additionally, it must have a clear purpose, scope, and duration, as well as defined roles, responsibilities, and expectations for both mentors and mentees. Mentors should receive adequate training and preparation to develop their knowledge, skills, and attitudes for effective mentoring while also receiving ongoing support from the school leadership or external experts. Communication between mentors and mentees should be regular and open through various modes such as face-to-face meetings or online platforms. Reflection on practice is also important; mentors and mentees should engage in critical and collaborative reflection using evidence such as student work or observation notes while also setting goals and action plans for improvement.

5 What are some examples of mentoring activities for teacher resilience?

Mentoring activities for teacher resilience can vary depending on the stage, focus, and format of the mentoring relationship. For instance, mentors and mentees can plan, teach, and evaluate a lesson together, observe each other's practice or a third-party teacher, analyze a real or hypothetical teaching scenario, conduct a research project, or join a professional learning community. Through these activities, they can share their expertise, strategies, feedback, observations, insights, and suggestions; explore possible solutions and outcomes; and learn from and with each other .

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?