An exploration of the impact of resilience interventions : educational professionals' views of the growth mindset approach and its impact on students' academic resilience

Abstract

This research is presented in three chapters, my systematic review, bridging document and empirical research. Chapter one involved an investigation into the impact of school-based resilience groups on the emotional well-being of children and young people. Five studies that met the search criteria were selected and reviewed, one study used a quantitative approach and the remaining four utilised a mixed methods strategy. The systematic literature review also considered children’s and young people’s views of the impact of school-based resilience groups from the studies identified. Potential methodological issues of the studies were explored. The findings of the systematic review suggest that school-based resilience groups have variable degrees of success. The studies measured success in terms of the reduction of depression and anxiety; changes in confidence, self-esteem, behaviour and emotional and social factors. Programmes that focused on narrative or emotion coaching techniques reported increased emotional regulation, self-esteem, confidence, reduction of disruptive behaviours and increased social and emotional competences. None of the resilience interventions reported a long term reduction in anxiety or depressive symptoms. The qualitative findings suggested that children and young people expressed that schoolbased resilience groups, improved their relationships with others, their skills, coping and confidence and provided them with an opportunity to explore their feelings. Chapter two is the bridging document which explains the process of how the systematic review developed into my empirical research. It describes my personal interest in the research area and how this has progressed over time, my worldview, methodological decisions and the reflexivity involved in the process. The third chapter is my empirical research study. This aims to explore what impact the Growth Mindset approach has on children’s academic resilience from the perspective of educational professionals. A mixed method convergent parallel design was utilised with an emphasis on qualitative information. A paper questionnaire was distributed to one school in a Local Authority and an online questionnaire was used to seek the views of participants internationally. A total of 51 educational professionals completed the questionnaire from 9 different countries. Thematic analysis was used to analyse participant responses of the questionnaire. As a result, six themes were created and discussed. The quantitative information gathered from the questionnaire is relayed descriptively. The five themes identified were, perseverance, autonomous learning, peer support, optimism and selfawareness. The findings suggested the Growth Mindset approach had a positive impact on academic resilience for most students.