‘I’m coming back again!’ The resilience process of early career teachers

TLDR: The authors presented a model of early career teacher resilience where resilience is seen as a process located at the interface of personal and contextual challenges and resources and discussed the critical roles played by family and friends and the importance of relationships in the resilience process.

Abstract: Early career teachers face a range of challenges in their first years of teaching and how these challenges are managed as career implications. Based on current literature, this paper presents a model of early career teacher resilience where resilience is seen as a process located at the interface of personal and contextual challenges and resources. Through a semi-structured interview the challenges faced by 13 Australian early career teachers and the resources available to manage these challenges are examined. Findings show that beginning teachers experience multiple, varied and ongoing challenges and that personal and contextual resources are both important in sustaining them through the beginning year(s) of their teaching careers. The study emphasises the critical roles played by family and friends and the importance of relationships in the resilience process. Implications for future research and teacher education are discussed.

Figures

Figure 1. A model of early career teacher resilience

Table 2: Participants’ challenges, resources and future intentions

Table 1: Participants

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The University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia
ResearchOnline@ND ResearchOnline@ND
Education Papers and Journal Articles School of Education
2014
'I'm coming back again!' The resilience process of early career teachers 'I'm coming back again!' The resilience process of early career teachers
Caroline Mans?eld
The University of Notre Dame Australia
, caroline.mans?eld1@nd.edu.au
Susan Beltman
Anne Price
Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/edu_article
Part of the Education Commons
This article was originally published as:
Mans?eld, C., Beltman, S., & Price, A. (2014). 'I'm coming back again!' The resilience process of early career teachers.
Teachers and
Teaching: Theory and Practice, 20
(5), 547-567.
http://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.937958
Original article available here:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.937958
This article is posted on ResearchOnline@ND at
https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/edu_article/223. For more
information, please contact researchonline@nd.edu.au.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Teachers and Teaching: Theory
and Practice on 17 September 2014, available online:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2014.937958

“I’m coming back again!”: The resilience process of early career teachers
Dr Caroline Mansfield
School of Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
Dr Susan Beltman
School of Education, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Dr Anne Price
School of Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
Corresponding author:
Dr Caroline Mansfield
School of Education
Murdoch University
90 South St, Murdoch University
Western Australia, 6151
caroline.mansfield@murdoch.edu.au
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) under
Grant number PP9 1370.

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AUTHOR COPY OF –
Mansfield, C. F., Beltman, S., & Price, A. (2014). ‘I’m coming back again!’ The resilience process of early
career teachers. Teachers and Teaching, 20(5), 547-567. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2014.937958
2!
“I’m coming back again!”: The resilience process of early career teachers
Early career teachers face a range of challenges in their first years of teaching and
how these challenges are managed has career implications. Based on current
literature, this paper presents a model of early career teacher resilience where
resilience is seen as a process located at the interface of personal and contextual
challenges and resources. Through a semi-structured interview the challenges
faced by thirteen Australian early career teachers and the resources available to
manage these challenges are examined. Findings show that beginning teachers
experience multiple, varied and ongoing challenges and that personal and
contextual resources are both important in sustaining them through the beginning
year(s) of their teaching careers. The study emphasises the critical roles played by
family and friends and the importance of relationships in the resilience process.
Implications for future research and teacher education are discussed.
Keywords: teacher resilience; early career teachers; teacher retention; teacher
education; teacher induction
Introduction
Teaching is a challenging profession, particularly for early career teachers as they meet the
demands of the profession and establish themselves in a school community. Experiencing
multiple challenges has been found to put beginning teachers at risk of burnout as early as their
first year (Gavish & Friedman, 2010). With at least 25% of teachers in both Australia and the
UK leaving the profession in the first five years (Australian Government Productivity
Commission, 2012, p. 100; House of Commons Education Committee, 2012, p. 35) and with an
estimated 40-50% turnover in early years teachers in the United States (Ingersoll, 2012),
teacher attrition is an issue of international concern. Teacher “attrition does not appear to be a

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AUTHOR COPY OF –
Mansfield, C. F., Beltman, S., & Price, A. (2014). ‘I’m coming back again!’ The resilience process of early
career teachers. Teachers and Teaching, 20(5), 547-567. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2014.937958
3!
country specific issue but rather spans across a range of countries” (Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2013, p. 26). While some researchers have focused on
understanding teacher burnout (see for example, Hultell, Melin, & Gustavsson, 2013) it is also
argued that this is an important time to better understand what sustains the majority of teachers
who do remain in the profession (Clandinin, 2010).
Teacher resilience research has begun this important work by helping develop
understandings about how teachers demonstrate resilience when they not only survive, but
thrive, despite challenging circumstances (Beltman, Mansfield & Price, 2011). Resilience “…
offers a useful lens which allows us to probe [teachers’] internal and external worlds to explore
which factors, individually and in combination, influence their capacity to sustain their passion,
enthusiasm and strong sense of fulfilment” (Gu & Li, 2013, pp. 288-289). This paper proposes
a model of early career teacher resilience which brings together individual or personal
characteristics, and the various social and cultural contexts of teaching which can both act as
challenges or resources, and represents resilience as a dynamic process at the interface of the
person and the context.
Personal challenges and resources for early career teachers
Personal challenges faced by beginning teachers can include a reluctance to seek help (Fantilli
& McDougall, 2009;), low levels of self-efficacy (Castro, Kelly, & Shih, 2010), concerns about
content knowledge (McCann & Johannessen, 2004) or job security (Stallions, Murrill, & Earp,
2012), and philosophical differences in beliefs between preferred and actual teaching practices
(McCormack & Gore, 2008). Poor social and emotional competence may lead to relationship
difficulties and behaviour management challenges in the classroom (Cefai & Cavioni, 2014).
Despite such challenges, research has identified a range of personal factors that act as
resources to assist teachers to manage challenges and have a sustaining effect on teacher

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "'i'm coming back again!' the resilience process of early career teachers" ?

In this paper, early career teachers in both Australia and the UK leave the profession in the first five years, and with an estimated 40-50 % turnover in early years teachers in the United States ( Ingersoll, 2012 ), teacher attrition is an issue of international concern. 

Q2. What have the authors stated for future works in "'i'm coming back again!' the resilience process of early career teachers" ?

Limitations of the study and directions for future research will be considered. Some expressed the view that things would improve in the future as they gained experience. Whether or not new teachers with positive teacher models in their family are more likely to sustain a long-term commitment to the profession is an avenue for future research. Bullough and Hall-Kenyon ( 2011 ) suggest that hope helps teachers cope and endure in times of challenge and McCann and Johannessen ( 2004 ) argue that new teachers “ endure difficulties because they believe that, ultimately, things will get better ” ( p. 141 ). 

Q3. What is the role of the teacher in building resilience?

Woolfolk Hoy (2013) suggested that teacher education can prepare graduates to self-regulate their own social support networks, which can be important for building resilience. 

Q4. What was the main challenge for Mel?

Differentiating curriculum to “cater for children who are significantly below the rest of the class” was a major challenge for Mel along with difficult classroom behaviour. 

Q5. What is the role of the model of early career teacher resilience?

The model of early career teacher resilience could be used as a reflective tool for intending graduates and beginning teachers, and as already indicated, for teachers at different career stages. 

Q6. What is the role of family and friends in the resilience process of early career teachers?

Findings show that beginning teachers experience multiple, varied and ongoing challenges and that personal and contextual resources are both important in sustaining them through the beginning year(s) of their teaching careers. 

Q7. What is the main argument of Gu and Day’s 2011 argument that teacher resilience is not simply?

the challenges occurred in multiple spheres (work and home) of participants’ lives thus supporting Gu and Day’s (2011) argument that teacher resilience is not simply related to bouncing back from specific events, but is “the capacity to maintain equilibrium and a sense of commitment and agency in the everyday worlds in which teachers teach” (p. 5). 

Q8. What was her frequently mentioned challenge?

Achieving a satisfactory work-life balance was her most frequently mentioned challenge -“it’s just been so stressful that The authorhaven’t had time to! !! ! 

Q9. What is the role of the graphical representation of resilience?

These findings indicate that resilience may manifest itself in decisions to alter working contexts to improve personal wellbeing and in maintaining “equilibrium and a sense of commitment and agency” (Gu & Day, 2011, p. 5).diagrammatically represented personal and contextual challenges and resources, and located resilience as a process occurring at the interface of person and context. 

Q10. What is the importance of a caring professional community in teaching?

The importance of a caring professional community has been stressed in whole school approaches to support pupil and teacher wellbeing and resilience (Cefai & Cavioni, 2014). 

Q11. How did she develop strong relationships with her students?

June explained that she was able to develop strong relationships with her students, having had four children of her own - “I think has really helped me in the! !! ! 

Q12. What are some of the strategies that teachers can use to build support networks?

These may include engaging in an ‘environmental scan’ to understand school procedures and key personnel (administrative / library staff as well as school leaders), initiating conversations with staff to informally determine ‘go to’ people for support, and actively becoming involved in the school community.