Critically re-conceptualising early career teacher resilience

Johnson, B. and Down, B.ORCID: 0000-0003-4843-0563 (2012) Critically re-conceptualising early career teacher resilience. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34 (5). pp. 703-715.

Abstract

In this paper, we describe how and why we adopted a socially critical orientation to early career teacher resilience. In re-conceptualising early career teacher resilience, we expose the normative components of resilience by revealing the implicit values, beliefs and assumptions that underpin most traditional conceptions of resilience. We argue against the hyper-individualisation of the concept because it leads to a diminution of the influence of situational and structural forces on early career teachers' experiences, and shifts primary responsibility for early career teacher well-being onto the individual. We lay the groundwork for a critical perspective on teacher resilience capable of illuminating the 'problems' of early career teachers within a broader social, cultural and political context. Our analysis is designed to promote further debate about new ways of seeing early career teacher resilience with the aim of creating and sustaining a spirit of optimism and human agency, as well as a sense of health and well-being among early career teachers.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Education
Publisher:	Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Copyright:	2012 Taylor & Francis
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/11834

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