In many schools, both urban and rural, children living in poverty face daily stressors including lack of parental support, lack of resources, unsafe living conditions, and poor nutrition. As teachers are first responders in facing these difficult situations, resilience enables teachers to overcome challenges and succeed professionally. Teachers who have been found to be more resilient tend to feel more successful and stay in their positions longer. Teachers at varying experience levels have different approaches to maintaining their resilience in response to daily stressors. The purpose of this comparative case study was to compare the resilience factors of an early career and a late career music teacher within high-poverty, trauma-sensitive contexts. Participants exhibited varying levels of resilience by adapting their expectations to their school context and maintaining a positive attitude.
AustinJ. R.KoernerB. D. (March, 2016). The role of teacher resilience in combating music teacher turnover at different career stages [Conference session]. National Association for Music Education Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, Atlanta, GA, United States.
2.
BeltmanS.MansfieldC.PriceA. (2011). Thriving not just surviving: A review of research on teacher resiliency. Educational Research Review, 6(3), 185–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2011.09.001
BrunettiG. J. (2006). Resilience under fire: Perspectives on the work of experienced, inner city high school teachers in the United States. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(7), 812–825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.027
6.
CastroA. J.KellyJ.ShihM. (2010). Resilience strategies for new teachers in high-needs areas. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 622–629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.09.010
7.
ChuaS.WelchG. (2020). A lifelong perspective for growing music teacher identity. Research Studies in Music Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X19875080
ConwayC.RawlingsJ.HibbardS. (2018). Music teachers’ descriptions of their workplaces in relation to micropolitics. Music Education Research, 20(3), 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2017.1366436
10.
CraigS. (2017). Viewing underserved populations of children and youth through a trauma-sensitive lens. In GoldmanL. (Ed.), Creating inclusion and well-being for marginalized students: Whole-school approaches to supporting children’s grief, loss, and trauma (pp. 75–92). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
11.
CreswellJ. W. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design (4th ed.). SAGE.
12.
CulpM.JonesS. (2020). Shame in music education: Starting the conversation and developing resilience. Music Educators Journal, 106(4), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432120906198
13.
DayC. (2008). Committed for life? Variations in teachers’ work, lives and effectiveness. Journal of Educational Change, 9(3), 243–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-007-9054-6
FredricksonW. E.MadsenC. K. (2010). Emotional differences between early and late degree program music teacher education students using a concise emotional inventory. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 29(1), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123310378452
GuQ.DayC. (2007). Teachers resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1302–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.006
18.
HowardS.JohnsonB. (2004). Resilient teachers: Resisting stress and burnout. Social Psychology of Education, 7(4), 399–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-004-0975-0
PattonM. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluative methods. SAGE.
28.
SaldañaJ. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). SAGE.
29.
SchensulJ. J.LeCompteM. D. (2013). Essential ethnographic methods: A mixed method approach, Book 3 (2nd ed.). AltaMira Press.
30.
SchwartzK. (2017). Serving underserved students: The view from the classroom. In GoldmanL. (Ed.), Creating inclusion and well-being for marginalized students: Whole-school approaches to supporting children’s grief, loss, and trauma (pp. 56–74). Jessica Kingsley.
VandeusenA. (2016). “It really comes down to the community”: Case study of a rural school music program. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 15(4), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.22176/act15.4.56
