Great Southern Lands: Making Space for Teacher Resilience in South Africa and Australia

• In Event: Retaining Quality Teachers: International Perspectives on Teacher Resilience

Abstract

Teacher resilience is recognised as an important international field of research and there has been increasing interest in what sustains teachers, enabling them to remain in the profession and thrive in their work. Many studies on teacher resilience originate in the global north (e.g. Brunetti, 2006; Gu & Li, 2013; Day & Gu, 2014) and some investigation of teacher resilience has its origins in the global south (e,g, Ebersöhn, 2012, 2014; Johnson et al., 2014; Mansfield, Beltman, Price & McConney, 2012), but cross-country comparative studies are scarce.

This paper uses cross-national data on teacher resilience from South Africa and Australia to add a comparative and global south contextual lens to teacher resilience research. The longitudinal (12 year) South African study is focused on risk and resilience in high risk schools in an emerging economy context and uses ethnographic Participatory Reflection and Action with teachers (n=87) in rural (n=6) and urban (n=8) high risk schools (n=14, high schools=4, primary schools=10) in three South African provinces. The Australian data focus on the experiences of early career and experienced teachers (n=18) in urban (n=10) and rural (n=4), primary (n=10) and secondary (n=4) settings. Given the quality and quantity of risks and resources in each country, the paper investigates risks and resources used during teacher resilience processes.

In both studies, participants were interviewed regarding the challenges they experienced, strategies they used to manage challenges and sustain commitment, and their main sources of support. A secondary content analysis of the data was conducted for this comparative study to specifically identify risks and resources with regard to internal (personal) and external (relational; physical infrastructure; health, welfare and education) systems that influence teacher resilience. Unique and common risks and resources were identified to enable the comparison.

Findings highlight that, irrespective of context, certain teacher personal risks (feeling overwhelmed, time constraints) prompted similar resources (optimism, perseverance, motivation) and adaptive coping strategies (relational support, problem-solving). Resources and strategies remain similar across dissimilar contexts. On the relational level, although the origins of the risks were similar (students at risk, parents) the way in which the risks played out differed - South African teachers strategically created partnerships with the community and mobilised unused resources such as land for vegetable gardens, and Australian teachers created collegial networks and drew on support from family and friends. The greatest differences were shown to be with regard to health, welfare and education, where teachers in each country experienced different challenges and drew on different resources. The differences in both risk factors experienced by teachers as well as protective resources utilised by teachers for adaptation, relate to the different quality and quantity of challenges in health, welfare and education systems between Australia and South Africa.

The unique contribution of this comparative study is the focused investigation of risks and resources in two differing national contexts. Given the importance of context highlighted in the extant literature, this study reveals that teachers respond in similar ways to differing contextual risks. Implications for further research and theory are discussed.

Authors

• Caroline F. Mansfield, Murdoch University

• Liesel Ebersohn, University of Pretoria

• Susan Beltman, Curtin University

• Tilda Loots, University of Pretoria