Crisis and adaptability: a model of early childhood teacher resilience across five countries

ABSTRACT

The unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic have required the global world to adapt swiftly and cope with the demands. The pandemic, in particular, has caused severe disruptions to young children’s learning experiences, requiring a closer examination of teacher resilience. This complex, individual and context-driven quality requires educators to adapt, negotiate existing challenges and endure in adverse stress-inducing environments. Drawing on two models of teacher resilience, with a specific emphasis on protective factors, we present the empirical findings of a study that involved 284 early childhood educators from Australia, Bangladesh, India, Norway and Singapore. Participant experiences in their professional contexts indicate the role of protective factors, which include both individual and contextual factors, that facilitated quality teacher-child interactions during the pandemic. The data highlight personal strength and learning situated in their heritage cultures as crucial components of developing a strong sense of professionalism. In addition, the findings reveal the importance of professional development opportunities as an enabler of teacher resilience.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• teacher resilience
• individual and contextual factors

Acknowledgments

We warmly thank Mahbub Sarkar, Prachi Gupta and Farhana Mannan for their contribution to this study and are also grateful to the early childhood educators for participating in this study and making this research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.