ABSTRACT Unlike previous studies that have investigated teachers’ personal resilience, the current study sought to examine its demographic characteristics and its relationships with socio-emotional and educational factors, and to consider differences in personal resilience between novice teachers and teacher-interns with low, medium and high levels of personal resilience. The participants were 298 novice teachers and teacher-interns in Arab schools in the north of Israel, who filled out questionnaires that included demographic details, and measures of personal resilience, subjective happiness, positive and negative affect, self-esteem, social anxiety, and teaching motivation. The findings indicated significant differences between the participants on the relationship between personal resilience and teaching status, teaching internship and teaching seniority. In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between personal resilience and subjective happiness, but negative correlations were found between personal resilience and negative affect, social anxiety, social fear, and social avoidance. Significant differences were found between three categories (low, medium and high personal resilience) of novice teachers and teacher-interns for social avoidance, social anxiety, general affect, negative affect, and teaching motivation. The authors concluded that workshops for the mentioned teachers should focus primarily on increasing their personal resilience, which is crucial for their optimal integration into the education system.
Read full abstract