Educational pathways to resilience in rural school partnerships

Abstract

Students in resource-scarce environments navigate through a multitude of barriers (Richter, 2007). The pathways that individuals travel through towards positive adaptation are far from fixed (Ungar, 2005a), but rather a continuous intersection of navigating through adversity and negotiating supports (Ungar, Brown, Liebenberg, et. al, 2008). Hence, resilience (adapting positively in the face of significant adversity) can be buoyed in a space where support is provided (Ebersöhn & Ferreira, 2011). Scant research warrants whether partnerships with rural schools contribute to 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: Flourishing Learning Youth (FLY; Ebersöhn & Maree, 2006); a rural school-Educational Psychology partnership which had its inception in 2006. The partnership involves numerous services, specifically career related support to grade nine students and guidance 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 was explored by means of qualitatively investigating partnerships, as well as quantitatively examining student access and academic performance (as indicators of educational resilience). The theoretical underpinnings rested on concepts from the Resiliency Wheel (Henderson & Milstein, 1996) through a transactionalecological understanding of resilience in learning. Data collection strategies consisted of: semi-structured interviews with two teacher-participants and retrospective document analysis of school records (performance schedules) for two grade nine cohorts. The cohorts were followed from grade 9 to grade 11. Data analysis techniques consisted of T-Tests and descriptive statistics on sampled documents for the quantitative strand. Through these statistical methods, it was anticipated that patterns in access and performance, could speak to partnerships influence as one factor in students pathways to resilience, or not. Concurrently, thematic analysis of interview transcripts was done for the qualitative strand. The triangulation of these methods assisted in creating a more comprehensive picture of the relationship between partnerships and the outcome variables used to gauge educational pathways to resilience. Results which emerged qualitatively allowed for answering questions surrounding the nature, processes and benefits of partnerships in a rural school, as well as risks and protective resources within and around the school. Quantitative results regarding outcome variables of access and performance highlighted the risks found qualitatively, to indicate that despite observable enabling partnership processes and benefits, students appear to find high academic challenging (in three measured school subjects). A better understanding on the various pathways to resilience of students in resourcescarce environments could assist with appropriate services and interventions that partners may wish to exchange.