A sociomaterial approach to teacher resilience

Current theoretical developments around resilience as systems thinking require a shift in research methodology and an acknowledgement of the range of theories that are employed. Resilience theory has moved away from a focus on the individual towards a ‘fourth pillar’ which considers resilience as part of societal and collective structures. Individualist approaches are critiqued in the literature as limiting, and instead resilience is considered as the interplay between the individual and the environment. The chapter presents the initial findings of a systematic review of methodologies used to investigate resilience in teachers and makes the case for the sociomaterial as a development from systems thinking (specifically, actor-network theory and the idea of [NET] from Latour’s (2013) An inquiry into modes of existence) to broaden knowledge through a focus on localised and everyday practices of education practitioners. The authors draw on their own experience of resilience in the educational workplace as a point of departure from adherence to dominant discourses of teacher resilience.