Resilient School Practice: Actions to Address Contextual Situations of Vulnerability

Abstract

Resilience has been defined as the human capacity to overcome adversity and build on it, adapt, recover and access a meaningful and productive life. Schools as social communities, also generate the capacity to adapt to adverse events and contexts, through resilient practices. Thus, the goal of this research was to identify the actions that schools conducted to respond and overcome vulnerable contextual situations, which may affect their academic processes. 16 high added value secondary schools were selected. To make this selection, multilevel techniques were used. So schools whose academic results of census assessments were higher compared to other schools in similar contextual conditions, were involved in this study. Open interviews were applied to school supervisors and management teams of these schools. Participants answered questions about practices that their school communities do to cope disadvantaged contextual situations and get outstanding academic results. Answers of supervisors and management teams were compared and analyzed. Fourteen categories of different types of practice emerged through this analysis. These practices were related to school organization; strategies of discipline; promotion of school life; leadership of the principal; involvement of parents; assessments of teachers and students; innovative teaching practices; time management; inclusion practices; attention to poor performance; teacher training; among others. It was concluded that the high added value schools shared, resilient practices to address similar contextual situations of vulnerability. But also, there are certain practices that are specifically built to adapt to adverse events and contexts. All these practices are discussed in this study.

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Author Information
Genoveva Gutierrez, University of Baja California, Mexico
Alicia A. Chaparro, University of Baja California, Mexico

• Category: Primary and secondary education

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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