Teachers’ narratives of resilience : responding effectively to challenging behaviour in the Maltese educational college system

Abstract

This research study explores the narratives of eight teachers who respond effectively to challenging behaviour in the Maltese educational college system. The research questions examine the individual and contextual factors that facilitate teachers’ resilience in the face of responding to challenging behaviour in the college system. The research methodology taken up is a narrative exploration of teacher stories, making use of in-depth interviews to elicit the challenges faced by these teachers, and the individual and contextual factors that have helped strengthen their resilience. Results show that each teacher’s resilient story is unique as factors contributing to resilience interact in complex ways. Although the development of resilience was unique to every participant, teachers also shared common factors that fostered their resilience in overcoming the setbacks they experienced in their profession. Teachers found that individual qualities such as a positive attitude, seeing mistakes as learning opportunities, accepting one’s limitations, adapting lessons to student needs, investing in firm but caring relationships, and remaining calm when responding to challenging behaviour, as well as contextual factors such as support within the school system helped develop their resilience. This study continues to point towards the variety of challenges responding to challenging behaviour in the college system presents, and consequently underlines the significance of resilience in teachers.