Do Resilient Schools Exist? Chances for Quality Education for Children from Dysfunctional Families

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to develop models of resilient schools, both positive and negative. This study is based on the methodological principles of interdisciplinarity and consistency. The process of identifying models of resilient schools took place in two stages: 1) searching databases for examples confirming the existence of “successful” schools in difficult socio-economic conditions, and 2) analysis of interviews and survey results of teachers, students, and parents. Results show that the proposed classification of models of resilient schools was clarified. The remaining uncertainty regarding the issue of the existence of resilient schools is resolved through the inclusion into the sphere of pedagogical analysis of non-social objects such as actors of educational interaction. It is shown that adverse social conditions (from the standpoint of the school and universal values) in reality seem to be the most likely life futurity for children from dysfunctional families. Changing this futurity to a more positive one requires a specific education in a resilient school, which differs from other schools in its educational strategy. The paper defines the school strategies determining qualitatively different models of resilient educational organizations. Five such models are proposed, based on the principles of resonant interaction oriented to supporting positive and blocking negative educational fluctuations of schoolchildren, compensatory interactions, calling for the creation in the school of specific conditions neutralizing the effects of the adverse environment, development of personal resilience of pupils as a meta-competency, and integration of all previous models into a single educational system. The integrative model can be considered as the highest level of school resilience, achieved by the gradual development of the previous models.