A review of school approaches to increasing pupil resilience

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the literature on whole school approaches to increasing resilience in pupils. This is pertinent with the increase in children and young people’s mental health needs creating extra pressure on schools to foster young people’s ability to withstand stress and adversity. Whilst previous research works have considered the ways in which schools support their pupils, the extent to which resilience has been reliably measured has varied. Recently, several validated resilience measures have been developed which allows for potentially more robust research to take place. This systematic review therefore summarises and critiques the literature exploring whole school approaches to resilience development only where a validated measure has been used. In total, 11 studies were reviewed and demonstrate that there is a trend between school factors and pupil resilience. The importance of supportive relationships with both peers and staff in school is highlighted in several studies as well as the positive effect of including a robust health promoting school’s agenda situated within local communities. However, the number of limitations identified within the current literature suggests that this review is not able to offer clear recommendations to schools. This review will, however, be helpful to schools, local authorities and the government in allowing them to take more of a critical stance in understanding resilience within a school context.

A total of 11 critically evaluated studies were reviewed and demonstrate that there is a trend between school factors and pupil resilience.

The importance of supportive relationships with both peers and staff in school is highlighted in several studies as well as the positive effect of including a robust health promoting school’s agenda situated within local communities.

However, the number of limitations identified within the current literature suggests that this review is not able to offer clear recommendations to schools. There are no studies in the UK using validated resiliency questionnaires as part of their evaluation and this is a limitation to the literature.

This review will, however, be helpful to schools, local authorities and the government in allowing them to take more of a critical stance in understanding resilience within a school context. This is particularly relevant when considering the needs of evaluation before the implementation of new school programmes.