Child resilience in public spaces: how can we enable street-connected children to protect themselves from sexual exploitation and abuse?
Speaker: Sarah Thomas de Benitez (Consortium for Street Children, UK)
From my rights-based perspective, resilience is a useful concept for designing support services that enable street-connected children to gain access to their legal human rights, including their right to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Title: “Helping people stay in teaching”: An approach to building teacher resilience in Australia
Presenter: Caroline Mansfield (Murdoch University, Australia)
Co-Author: Susan Beltman, Noelene Wetherby-Fell
Introduction: The role of school and professional communities in supporting teacher resilience has been highlighted by recent research. Particularly for pre-service teachers, resilience is important for easing transition to the profession and building resources to support positive adaptation. This paper describes an online approach for building pre-service teachers’ capacity for resilience.
Methods: Participants were 49 pre-service teachers who completed a series of 5 online learning modules aimed at building knowledge, skills and strategies for teacher resilience. Each module required personal reflection and took an hour to complete. Prior to and after completion of the modules participants completed a survey of teacher resilience, efficacy, commitment and coping. Twenty-seven participants were also interviewed to determine the extent to which engagement with the modules influenced their thoughts and actions while on professional experience placement.
Findings: The modules were found to have a positive influence on measures of resilience and commitment. Interview data highlighted increased self-awareness and use of specific strategies including emotion management, maintaining wellbeing and building relationships. Implications for teacher education and the potential of online learning to support development of resilience are discussed.
Abstract #52
Title: Exploring the resilience of teachers faced with learners’ challenging behaviour in the classroom
Presenter: Marietjie Oswald and Timothy Cornelissen (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
Introduction: In light of the failing education system and challenging learner behaviour that has become an intractable part of teachers’ experiences schools are in need of resilient teachers who can stay in control of challenging circumstances, maintain their dedication to teaching, and also develop professionally.
Methods: Ungar’s socio-ecological perspective on resilience informed the theoretical framework of this qualitative case study designed to explore teachers’ experiences of learners’ challenging behaviour and the impact upon their resilience. A special school (school of skills) in the Western Cape Province acted as the case for the study. Six teachers participated in the research as voices on behalf of the school community. Semi-structured individual interviews, non-participant observation, and a semi-structured focus group interview were used to gather and triangulate data. Several themes emerged from the data.
Findings: The findings showed that risk factors dominated the available protective factors present in the lives of the participating teachers, making the attainment of resilience a complicated task. Nevertheless, the study also showed that increased resilience enhances the management of challenging learner behaviour as well as teacher well-being, motivation and self-confidence.
Abstract #59
Title: Influences of birth order in shaping aspirations and wellbeing of children in an Urdu-speaking Bihari community in Bangladesh
Presenter: Jiniya Afroze (The Open University, UK)
Introduction: There is inadequate research attention to relationships of birth order in children’s wellbeing, particularly in the context of Global South. This paper explores how birth order shapes the aspirations and wellbeing of children in the context of an Urdu-speaking Bihari community in Bangladesh.
Methods: Drawing attention to the argument of new sociology of childhood, combined with the evidence of empirical studies in resilience research, this paper presents data from an eight-month long ethnographic study of an ongoing PhD project. This paper presents children’s perspectives, from data collected from a sample of 50 children aged 4-18 years through individual interviews, group discussions and participant observations. Adopting participatory tools like hand puppets, photo elicitation and vignettes, this paper explores how the cultural expectations and responsibilities of children are linked to their birth orders, and how children channel their positive coping and aspirations towards their wellbeing.
Findings: Findings present children’s agencies are not related to birth orders, rather negotiated and contested through education, work and gender. This highlights the importance of questioning cultural practices that determine responsibilities of siblings according to birth orders, for making situated understandings about how children explore and promote their own wellbeing.
The increase in PLWHA and the burden of sickness caused by the HIV epidemic places great demands on families and communities in Kenya. This paper is grounded on family resilience theory and avers that belief systems, organizational patterns and problem-solving mechanisms play a vital role in bolstering caregiver resilience.
The discussions in this paper are anchored on the findings of a study that was carried out in Thika District, Kenya. A survey research design was employed. The study area provided rural and urban contexts. A sample of 177 primary family caregivers (FCGs) of PLWHIV was used. Data was collected using interview schedules for FCGs and Focus Group Discussions with community health workers. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while thematic analysis was applied for the qualitative data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used.
Findings: As FCGs play multifaceted roles they face challenges including lack of adequate finances, food provision difficulties, stress and stigma. To cope, the FCGs rely on a sense of hope, spirituality, connectedness, and collaborative problem-solving. Although the situation could be tough, the community provides an environment of hope that builds resilience.
Title: Family protective factors responsible fo satisfaction with family of youth with behavioral problems
Speaker: Martina Ferić (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Eduction and Rehabilitation Sciences, Croatia)
Co-Authors: Ivana Maurović, Antonija Žiža, Valentina Kranźelić,
Introduction: Families of youth with behavioural problems are often seen as an environment burdened with risk factors, rather than environment that can be source of protective factors. The aim of this paper is to determine the contribution of family protective factors in explaining satisfaction with family of youth with behavioural problems.
Methods: This paper is a part of a pilot research of the project Specific characteristics of families at risk: contribution to complex interventions planning that is carried out by Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia.Study was conducted with a 115 youth (73.4% male) from 12 to 19 years old, that are, due to behavioural problems, beneficiary of social welfare interventions. Following instruments were applied: Sociodemographic questionnaire, Adapted version of Family Resilience Assessment Scale (Sixbey, 2005), Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (Olson, 2010). Data were analysed via by descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.
Findings: Results indicate a relatively high level of satisfaction with a family life of youth with behavioural problems, as well as high level of assessed protective factors in family environment. Important contributors of family life satisfaction are family communication, cohesion, understanding/problem solving and use of social and economic resources.
Impact of presence of meaning in life on relationship of personal characteristics and well-being in Brazilian context
