Resilience In Education

Many students will have to adjust to life away from home, combat making new friends, struggle with changing timetables and understand the curriculum set for them. Students with disabilities will have these same worries. Yet as well as battling the basic hurdles, establishing a life at school with a disability brings a whole different set of challenges. Starting something new like school can scare anyone. Students with disabilities have to deal with a whole new building to navigate and classes to pass just like everybody else. It may be a bumpy start, but hints, tips and advice from other young disabled people and other educational professionals can prove to be really helpful.

As it relates to multiple disabilities, many students do have some

Because no one child is alike; there are students that are focused and engaged, then there are students that start working but get distracted. They begin working but if the work becomes challenging they may give up and begin doing other things that are not important. Helping the second group of students to become as focused as the first group involves the teacher building resilience. “Effective strategies can turn resistance into cooperation even for children with whom the teacher typically struggles” (Kersey, and Masterson, 2011). There are many ways teachers can build resilience. Teachers must first develop a relationship with their students. Moreover, as Maslow’s theory states “This five stage model can be divided into basic (or deficiency) needs (e.g. physiological, safety, love, and esteem) and growth needs (self-actualization). The deficiency, or basic needs are said to motivate people when they are unmet” (Mcleod, 2014). Basically, his theory states the basic needs of a child must (food, clothing, shelter) be met in order for a child to focus on anything else such as education. When those needs have been met then the teacher can begin to focus on self motivation, determination, stress management, and self esteem these social and emotional competencies that will help students to gain resilience. As a teacher it is vital to notice and reinforce qualities that are key to resilience as mentioned. Teachers should also avoid focusing on failure or negative behaviours but rather place emphasis on positive attitudes and habits. Teachers should also set high expectations for students this encourages students to go beyond mediocre; teaching them to set realistic, achievable goals, and also how to reach out for help when needed promotes self motivation as there is something to look forward to and it helps manages