engleski

Promoting Resilience in Kindergartens and Schools: Qualitative Analyses of Teachers’ Experiences in Croatia

Keeping in mind the growing number of various psychological problems in children and youth, the question of teachers' experiences and needed competencies for nurturing and promoting socio- emotional competencies in kindergartens and schools is rather emphasized in the contemporary world. Therefore, to truly understand the working position of teachers, the needs of the contemporary child within the education system, and teachers' competencies in supporting not only the academic, i.e., cognitive performance in children but also their socio-emotional performance, this research aimed to conduct a qualitative analysis of teachers’ experiences in promoting children’s resilience. For this purpose, randomly chosen two primary school teachers and three early childhood educators from different cities in Croatia filled out a questionnaire comprising open-ended questions regarding their experiences when children were dealing with psychosocial challenges. Even though early childhood educators and primary school teachers expressed slightly different ways and strategies of coping with children's psychosocial challenges, the most frequently used strategies include individual conversations with the child and/or the whole class, dramatization and verbalization of emotions, visual expression of emotions, use of therapeutic or interactive meditative stories, processing the experience through play, planned activities and workshops, and reorganization of space. They also cite the importance of involving members of the professional team (especially psychologists) in solving problems that involve working with both the child and the parents. Practitioners state that they need help and support in situations where the child is experiencing some difficulty – most often, they find help in the professional literature and collaboration with professional associates. This research's main conclusion is the implication about the much needed contemporary competencies among teachers to promote resilience in kindergartens and schools. Regarding this conclusion, some research projects conducted in Croatia are presented as the key solution to this issue.

Children ; Preschool and primary school teachers ; Resilience ; Teachers’ competencies ; Work experiences

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