Performance character

As influential adults in students’ lives, educators play a critical role in helping students develop resilience. This can happen in implicit ways, by providing caring, inclusive environments where children are supported and celebrated, as well as in more explicit ways, such as by teaching the social-emotional skills that students can use to better regulate their emotions, process difficult experiences, and build healthy relationships with the peers and adults around them. These approaches become especially important for students whose resilience systems are exposed to greater duress due to individual and societal contexts, such as learning differences or socioeconomic challenges at home or in their community. In these cases, educators need to even more intentionally engage assets such as empathy, perspective taking and fairness to help their students access the resources and support they need to build up a set of positive experiences and skills that will enable them to navigate adversity and challenges. Mindful reflection can help educators pause to think through the challenges their students are facing and to think of new protective factors they can provide to ensure each student’s success.

In the context of Principled Innovation, institutional resilience is important in providing a context in which new ideas can flourish and take root. Resilient organizations are equipped to handle challenges and obstacles that come their way, sustaining their stakeholders in difficult times. Good planning can help  mitigate unanticipated health and safety crises and can prepare organizations to address anticipated difficulties, such as enrollment declines or demographic changes. The PI Performance assets of collaboration, courage and creativity can help support  organizations as they plan ahead to develop solutions to systemic challenges they face. Leaders of education systems support their staff in developing resilience at the individual level by fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture where people feel connected to one another and the work they do. These social networks — whether with colleagues in teaching teams, with students and families, or in the broader community — work as protective factors which can have a powerful impact on boosting individual levels of resilience.