Educational pathways to resilience in rural school partnerships

[摘要] Students in resource-scarce environments navigate through a multitude of barriers(Richter, 2007). The pathways that individuals travel through towards positiveadaptation are far from fixed (Ungar, 2005a), but rather a continuous intersection ofnavigating through adversity and negotiating supports (Ungar, Brown, Liebenberg,et. al, 2008). Hence, resilience (adapting positively in the face of significantadversity) can be buoyed in a space where support is provided (Ebersöhn & Ferreira,2011). Scant research warrants whether partnerships with rural schools contributeto fostering positive adaptation of students in relation to their pathways to resilience(measured by educational outcome variables).This study forms part of a larger running longitudinal project, namely: FlourishingLearning Youth (FLY; Ebersöhn & Maree, 2006); a rural school-EducationalPsychology partnership which had its inception in 2006. The partnership involvesnumerous services, specifically career related support to grade nine students andguidance to educators. This retrospective case study (Yin, 2009; Zainal, 2007)utilised a concurrent mixed methods research design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007)within a pragmatic lens to study educational pathways to resilience. This wasexplored by means of qualitatively investigating partnerships, as well asquantitatively examining student access and academic performance (as indicatorsof educational resilience). The theoretical underpinnings rested on concepts fromthe Resiliency Wheel (Henderson & Milstein, 1996) through a transactionalecologicalunderstanding of resilience in learning. Data collection strategiesconsisted of: semi-structured interviews with two teacher-participants andretrospective document analysis of school records (performance schedules) for twograde nine cohorts. The cohorts were followed from grade 9 to grade 11. Dataanalysis techniques consisted of T-Tests and descriptive statistics on sampleddocuments for the quantitative strand. Through these statistical methods, it wasanticipated that patterns in access and performance, could speak to partnershipsinfluence as one factor in students pathways to resilience, or not. Concurrently,thematic analysis of interview transcripts was done for the qualitative strand. Thetriangulation of these methods assisted in creating a more comprehensive picture of the relationship between partnerships and the outcome variables used to gaugeeducational pathways to resilience.Results which emerged qualitatively allowed for answering questions surroundingthe nature, processes and benefits of partnerships in a rural school, as well as risksand protective resources within and around the school. Quantitative resultsregarding outcome variables of access and performance highlighted the risks foundqualitatively, to indicate that despite observable enabling partnership processes andbenefits, students appear to find high academic challenging (in three measuredschool subjects).A better understanding on the various pathways to resilience of students in resourcescarceenvironments could assist with appropriate services and interventions thatpartners may wish to exchange.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria