What is Resilience?

Resilience is our ability to manage the challenges and setbacks which come with life, returning from this adversity to some semblance of normalcy or better yet, stronger for the experience.

It isn’t an inherent character trait but rather a response to adversity which draws upon the strength of several social emotional skills to be achieved. According to this Literature Review of 1,979 studies it was concluded:

“There appears to be a range of factors that may contribute to resilience in children across different social ecological domains. At an individual level, factors such as emotion regulation, cognitive skills, empathy or a positive outlook have been associated with resilient outcomes.”

These determinants of resilient outcomes are learnable, particularly in children of primary school age, as their brains are rapidly developing and growing taking onboard information is easier. Resilience has always been an important ability to teach children and adolescents for day to day life in physical environments, from schools to home and the outside world. However, the digital age has introduced a whole new set of challenges reinforcing why we need to teach the skills for resilience in young children, and how to reduce the impact of negative online interactions.

The Growing Importance of Teaching The Skills For Resilience

Throughout the 21st century to date, we have seen an unprecedented and exponential growth in information and how it’s delivered to anyone with access to the internet, which in Australia, is 88% of the population. [Statista, 2018] This has fast-tracked children’s learning and development significantly and provided enormous career opportunities which didn’t exist even 15 years ago. However, the Internet provides children with many opportunities, yet it does not come without risks.[link OECD]

Research found 72% of Australian schools reported managing at least one incident of online bullying in the previous year. [Bullying No Way.gov]

It is clear with improving access to the internet and technology, the potential presence of online bullying grows equally. Therefore, education must exist around developing the social, emotional and physical skills to improve resilient outcomes and wellbeing among young internet users.

Aside from reducing the impact of cyber-bullying, children (and adults) need resilience for overcoming internal challenges as well as to support their goals and outlook for the future.

Resilient Outcomes Are Strongly Associated With These 3 Core Skills:

Effective Self-Management/Self-Regulation
Strong Relationship Skills
Developed Social Awareness

By improving these skills in children, they can better cope with any negative interactions online while continuing to expand their growth and knowledge of ICT literacy. A subject which is recognised as being a ‘foundational literacy’ for 21st century learners by the World Economic Forum.

Where To Start With Resilience

So what can parents, carers and educators do to ensure children are taught these crucial skills?

By implementing evidence-based and curriculum-aligned programs in schools, students form a foundation of skills needed from a young age to be resilient and manage challenges typically faced later in adolescence. By then reinforcing this language and education at home, families can give children the best possible opportunity to form resilient outcomes.

From a rhetoric perspective, it’s also important to break down the narrative which might suggest resilience is an inherent character trait and begin to implement the education of the underlying skills, on a community level as well as an individual level.

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Resilience In A Digital Age

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