Nurturing resilience in well-being
By Mr Christopher Bradbury, Principal
Education is a key determinant of a young person’s social and emotional development and is crucial for establishing a sense of identity and place in the world. Young people have the right to an education that effectively prepares them for the present and the future. Education that is high-quality, safe, supportive and meets their individual and diverse needs.
Education encompasses life-long learning that supports young people to develop socially, intellectually, physically and emotionally, as well as to engage in the complexities of life after school.
Our mission statement is:
Radford College is a generous-spirited learning community that embodies the beliefs and values of the Christian faith in the Anglican tradition. We develop young people to live truthfully, practise compassion and seek wisdom in order to serve the common good.
A key component in realising our mission statement is through nurturing resilience in well-being. The development of resilience for our young people is not just a Radford matter, it’s a societal matter. Our lives are becoming more complex and stressful and therefore we need to provide our students with a ‘toolkit’ to be able to handle these challenges. Running away from challenges and avoiding them will not solve the problem.
Psychological resilience is defined as "flexibility in response to changing situational demands, and the ability to bounce back from negative emotional experiences" (Block & KreKremen, 1996). Resilience is at the heart of mental health and well-being. A school needs to reinforce the importance of challenge in the development of resilience by proactively seeking out opportunities for growth and development. Parents, students and teachers should never forget that learning at its very essence has stress involved. Your success in life depends on how you deal with it.
Statistically we know that resilience creates an 18% increase in achieving stronger learning. We also know that clinical anxiety is a significant issue for our young people with 46% (Year 11 students) and 59% (Year 12 students) nationally suffering from anxiety (Borazon & Chuang, 2023). Therefore, the challenge for schools is how do we address these alarming statistics and effectively develop strategies to build resilience and minimise clinical anxiety?
Dr Andrew Fuller from the University of Melbourne has researched and written extensively on nurturing resilience in well-being. He argues that there are 3 mindsets that young people adopt which include:
- The Resilient Mindset 45%
- The Anxious mindset 30%
- The Avoidant mindset 25%
The Resilient Mindset is the ‘zone of proximal development’ where we want our young people to be most of the time. These students still get stressed, but it doesn’t stop them from achieving their goals. They deal with setbacks and can manage their learning. They are more creative, master routines and show greater flexibility. Fuller argues that it’s when students are in the zone of the ‘resilient mindset’ that they can learn best, and it is positive relationships that will allow us to remain in the optimal zone.
Resilience is not about knowledge, it’s about relationships. Resilient schools and families, are places where students are connected, protected and respected.
Character development at Radford focuses on developing skills and dispositions in building positive relationships with others. We have discussed with our students the importance of looking someone in the eye, a firm handshake, a confident posture, a smile and greeting others with warmth and respect. You can tell if a student has a resilient mindset by those qualities because they’re not doubtful or insecure about who they are.
At Radford College, we recognise the value of a strong relationship between students, staff, parents and the wider community. A resilient culture is an inclusive culture. It’s one that values the student as both a learner and a person.
According to Borazon and Chuang's research only 65.5% of all young people have adults in their life who care about them. Even less, 62%, report that they have adults in their lives who listen to them. While the majority of students nationally are engaged in school and feel connected to adults, imagine what the results would be like if we invested more significantly in positive relationships with our young people so they can thrive and flourish.