Communications
Supporting resilience Kris Spencer considers ways in which we develop resilience amongst our pupils Resilience is in part about having the ability to develop appropriate coping strategies when dealing with stress, conflict, pressure and difficulties. It also incorporates the ability to bounce back after the problem is over. Resourcefulness, good communication skills, hope, and the ability to manage strong feelings and emotions are also linked to resilience.
Levels of vulnerability The school years, and especially the adolescent years, are a time when the external pressures placed on our pupils by the educational system and society coincide with the physical and psychological changes associated with their development from children to young adults. The result is that our pupils are especially vulnerable to feelings of stress and pressure, and so need to draw on their reserves of resilience to cope. Some pupils seem to have a calmer and less anxious experience in their adolescent years than others. It is also clear that some pupils have a greater number of issues to face or more challenging issues to deal with, and that some are also more sensitive to issues that are less problematic for others. This can result in unhappiness and low mood. Acutely, some pupils faced with problems which they feel they cannot cope with might develop coping strategies we would consider inappropriate. Self-harm, school refusal and eating disorders are all self-imposed behaviours used by pupils when they feel they cannot cope. We might also point to a lack of resilience when a coping strategy places the pupil in conflict with the broader needs of his or her school: spending a day on the cricket field or on the river with GCSEs looming is one such example of where pupils feel that something just has to give. The good news is that it does seem that resilience is a trait which can be taught and nourished. School and parents are the key in supporting and shaping the way in which children develop their resilience, but friends and peers also have a part to play in the process.
Nature and nurture When discussing differences in personality traits, the question of nature versus nurture is often raised. A nature viewpoint would suggest that some children are naturally more resilient than others. This is probably true, but most commentators suggest that nurture is also an important component in determining an individual’s levels of resilience. This supports the view that, given the right background, it is possible to build resilience over time and over a lifetime; and that whatever the emotional strengths we are born with, resilience is a trait which can be nurtured and developed. Similarly, it is equally apparent that resilience can be weakened. Resilience is a process. Research suggests that we
Kris Spencer
‘Resilience is linked to other traits like confidence and selfesteem. Importantly, it is linked to how supported we feel, and also to the boundaries we have been given as to what is acceptable and how to behave.’ learn resilience from those around us and from interacting with our environment. We develop the toughness we need to cope, in part at least, from experience – from a skinned knee to a bad exam result. One of the reasons that our high achievers are sometimes the most vulnerable may be because they lack some of the experience of failure which might once have been termed character building. A strong perfectionist streak is linked in some pupils to an inability to let go or compromise, and this, again, might leave a pupil more open to some of the inappropriate coping strategies mentioned above.
Resilience through experience If we learn resilience from those around us – our parents, our friends, our teachers – we can also experience it, second hand, from the lives of others and from fictional characters in books and films. Resilience is linked to other traits like confidence and self-esteem. Importantly, it is linked to how supported we
Spring 2016
*CCR Vol53 no1 Spring 2016.indd 17
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