Abstract:
This paper summarises the results of a recent qualitative study involving 7 young adolescents (12 - 16 years of age) who were identified as displaying resilient and non-resilient behaviours in school. Interviews were used to explore the lives of the young participants in a variety of settings: school, home, peer group and community. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as a theoretical framework, our analysis has produced rich and complex accounts of how protective factor and processes interact in the lives of young people to produce resilient o >non-resilient behaviour.
In this paper, we focus on the school's potential for developing resilient behaviour in all students. Clear differences between the ways in which 'resilient' and 'non-resilient' students talked about a range of issues suggest that schools have the capacity to foster resilient behaviour through purposeful, sustained attention to the following: (a) the development of autonomy and self efficacy in all students; (b) strong support for achievement, competence and mastery in a range of traditional and non-traditional areas and (c) recognition and support for the school's role as a social centre as well as a learning centre for young adolescents.
In this paper, we focus on the school's potential for developing resilient behaviour in all students. Clear differences between the ways in which 'resilient' and 'non-resilient' students talked about a range of issues suggest that schools have the capacity to foster resilient behaviour through purposeful, sustained attention to the following: (a) the development of autonomy and self efficacy in all students; (b) strong support for achievement, competence and mastery in a range of traditional and non-traditional areas and (c) recognition and support for the school's role as a social centre as well as a learning centre for young adolescents.