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In the Republic of Ireland (RoI) there were a plethora of educational changes introduced from 2016–2021. At the time of data collection related to the research reported in this blog post almost 55 per cent of primary schools in the RoI were led by teaching principals who have the same responsibilities as their administrative counterparts with a full-time teaching post concurrently (DoE, 2023). This study examined teacher resilience in the face of intense policy reform and systemic changes presented as four pillars in figure 1 (Fleming, 2024) from the perspective of primary school principals (administrative and teaching), mainstream class teachers and special education teachers (SETs).

Figure 1: Pillars of systemic change (Fleming, 2024)

Teacher resilience

This study views teacher resilience as the capacity to continue to maintain and sustain a sense of commitment and agency in teaching through different career phases and in ever-changing environments (Gu & Day, 2013). Teacher resilience is generally an underresearched concept in the primary school context. While prior studies nationally and internationally looked at initial teacher education (ITE) and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) teaching up to five years (Morgan et al., 2010; Mansfield et al., 2012), the researcher included the lived experience of teachers throughout career phases. This builds on earlier research by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) which also reported on the resilience of primary school principals, mainstream class teachers and SETs. The INTO report indicated roles did impact on resilience (INTO, 2015). However, with further educational reform and the Covid-19 pandemic it was necessary to ascertain the impact of systemic changes on the resilience of teachers and principals.

Methodology

This study involved a multiple site case study across six primary schools in the Leinster region with questionnaires and follow-up semi-structured interviews (n=16). Subsequently, a nationwide questionnaire was shared to a broader demographic of teachers and principals. Overall, the study had 137 questionnaire respondents. An overview of the profile of schools is presented in table 1 (using pseudonyms to maintain anonymity).

Table 1: Case study schools

Findings

Systemic changes did impact on the resilience of primary teachers and principals, but not equally. This study found no statistical difference across roles, contexts or career stages. Participants articulated an identified need for additional teacher professional learning (TPL) in the areas of wellbeing, special education needs, the Primary Language Curriculum and digital supports. Collaborations enhanced through the move away from the inspectorate model of evaluating NQTs towards a school-based induction programme through Droichead (Teaching Council, 2017) was seen as a favourable systemic change. Respondents identified the move to online teaching as the most challenging systemic change, followed by the Primary Language Curriculum and implementing policies.

Conclusion

‘The capacity to be resilient was understood to be influenced by the school culture, colleagues and the quality of leadership, with building and sustaining career-wide resiliency viewed as the ultimate goal.’

This study concentrated on how participant teachers and principals perceived and sustained their resilience at different career phases in the face of constant challenges, policy implementation and work demands. Respondents had largely been teaching for between 11 to 20 years and mainly worked in Catholic schools of between 151–300 pupils. The capacity to be resilient was understood to be influenced by the school culture, colleagues and the quality of leadership, with building and sustaining career-wide resiliency viewed as the ultimate goal. Teachers and principals idenitified specific areas as conducive to TPL to sustain resilience. A follow-up study was completed in 2026 to examine current perspectives on teacher resilience in light of evolving systemic changes since the original study.

References

Department of Education [DoE]. (2023). Number of teachers by gender appointed to teaching posts.

Fleming, J. A. (2024). Teacher resilience in the face of systemic changes 2016-2021 [Unpublished EdD thesis, Dublin City University].

Gu, Q., & Day, C. (2013). Challenges to teacher resilience: Conditions count. British Educational Research Journal, 39(1), 22–44.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation [INTO]. (2015). Workload, stress and resilience of primary teachers: Report of a survey of INTO members.

Mansfield, C. F., Beltman, S., Price, A., & McConney, A. (2012). ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’: Understanding teacher resilience at the chalkface’, Teaching and teacher education, 28 (3), pp. 357 – 367.  

Morgan, M., Ludlow, L., Kitching, K., O’Leary, M. and Clarke, A. (2010). ‘What makes teachers tick? Sustaining events in new teachers’ lives’, British Educational Research Journal, 36(2), pp. 191-208.  

Teaching Council. (2017). Droichead the integrated professional inductional framework.