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Teacher Resilience in Adverse Contexts: Issues of Professionalism and Professional Identity

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Resilience in Education

Abstract

Teacher resilience is a construct, that is, relative, developmental and dynamic; it is socially constructed and depends on personal and professional dispositions. Issues of commitment, professionalism and professional identity, for instance, need to be taken into account if teacher resilience is to be fully understood. In this chapter I draw upon a larger piece of research aimed at investigating teachers’ work and lives in challenging circumstances. Data were collected through a national survey (n = 2702 teachers), focus group (n = 99 teachers) and interviews to 11 school principals. Findings suggest the connection between teacher commitment and resilience which are associated with issues of school culture and leadership, a sense of vocation and teachers’ beliefs and professional values. Factors and sources of teacher motivation and resilience are also identified within a context marked by teacher intensification, lack of trust, worsening of teaching conditions, lower social and economic status and legislative “tsunami”. The chapter ends with the discussion of the importance of relationships in the teaching profession and issues of motivation and professionalism which entails given ways of being and feeling as a teacher.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Maria Assunção Flores

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  1. Maria Assunção Flores
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Correspondence to Maria Assunção Flores .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Marold Wosnitza

  2. ISPA-Instituto Universitário/CIE – ISPA, Lisbon, Portugal

    Francisco Peixoto

  3. School of Education, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Susan Beltman

  4. School of Education, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Caroline F. Mansfield

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Flores, M.A. (2018). Teacher Resilience in Adverse Contexts: Issues of Professionalism and Professional Identity. In: Wosnitza, M., Peixoto, F., Beltman, S., Mansfield, C.F. (eds) Resilience in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76690-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76690-4_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76689-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76690-4

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