Best Practice

Character Education: Defining and embedding resilience

Character education
Resilience is becoming a buzzword in education and is a key part of the character education agenda. But what is it, how should we define it, how can it be embedded in the curriculum and how can we evaluate it? Ross McWilliam discusses some possible approaches

According to leading resilience writers Clough & Strycharczyk (2015), resilience is a dynamic process in which a number of elements (protective factors) are available (or not) for a person to use to achieve success.

In simpler terms, they define it as a “stickability” representing the amount of effort and perseverance that an individual is prepared to expend to complete a task or reach a goal.

Zeiger (2014) in her work with younger children defines it practically as the ability to adapt and recover from adversity or incidences of change that arise in life.

Perhaps a more user-friendly explanation of resilience is the ability to bounce back from negative situations. Instead of letting someone or something drag you down, you use it to become a stronger, more focused person. A key phrase for pupils and staff could then be “bouncebackability”.

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