Collective Resilience

‘Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’

The pandemic years have presented Principals with enormous and ongoing challenges. It wouldn’t be surprising if you were sick and tired of ‘the R word’. Exhortations to ‘be resilient’, focusing exclusively on the individual, sound suspiciously like ‘take a concrete pill and harden up’. They also miss an important part of the picture – the fact that resilience grows between us as well as within us. Collective resilience grows in teams and schools where you are known as a person and cared for, where you have each other’s back, and are committed to helping each other.

Far from becoming an irrelevant luxury in pandemic times, the wellbeing and resilience agenda remains essential and integral to surviving and thriving. In this article I’ve distilled the lessons from schools that have coped well through the pandemic and the research behind their approach. Not surprisingly, the seeds of their success were planted several years before 2020 and read like a charter for whole-school wellbeing. I hope this article will provide you with an opportunity to reflect on the good work you are already doing in your school as well as offering some further ideas to support your teams.

What is resilience and why does it matter?

Resilience is typically defined as your ability to withstand and recover, sometimes over time, from challenge. First, let’s acknowledge the fact that resilience is not being indomitable or immune to challenge. It’s about being bent but not broken by challenge. It matters that you are aware of, and can acknowledge when challenge has brought you, if not to your knees, perhaps to a place of irritability, cynicism, and ineffectiveness. Those characteristic signs of burnout.

Secondly, resilience is influenced from inside and out. Your personal resilience is influenced by how you think and act. It’s also supported by connections to culture and identity. Most of us are aware of this, but less attention has been paid to the fact that resilience is also influenced by the context in which you operate. Which means that resilience is a collective capacity as well as individual: it grows between us as well as within us, a fact that has had insufficient attention over the past few years. Not having a supportive work context is an important factor driving burnout at work, and through 2022 has been fuelling what’s known as ‘the great resignation’, particularly in the USA and further afield. Millions of workers have chosen to leave toxic workplaces and bosses rather than return after pandemic lockdowns and working from home.

Collective resilience is influenced by the quality of the connections that shape the environments in which you operate – whether that’s work, home or play. It is the outcome we achieve when we build schools and communities that enable belonging and inclusion; where people feel safe to contribute, to learn and to make mistakes; where it’s safe to challenge, express alternative viewpoints, to innovate and change. This isn’t news to most of us, but somehow, over the years, other things have made it to the top of the priority list – computer systems, curriculum changes, staffing or timetabling challenges . . . All of which are important, but people, not equipment and scheduling are ultimately what make our schools.

How can we build collective resilience?

Fortunately, there are many ways to build collective resilience. Some of the approaches advocated by researchers over the years include: social capital; psychological capital; cultural responsiveness and cultural sustainability; belonging and inclusion; diversity, equity and inclusion; and psychological safety. Are you surprised by the sheer number of approaches to developing the belonging and inclusion essential for collective resilience? Perhaps researchers over past decades have been trying to get leaders’ attention. Hoping the next concept might finally convince organisations (including schools) that paying attention to the humanity of the people we work and interact with is a worthwhile endeavour.

The evidence from these approaches makes quite a heap of reading but the results are clear: teams do better when members feel they belong, can express their views, are safe to contribute, learn and make mistakes. This applies whether you’re operating in a financial tech company or a small rural school. Staff members are less likely to burn out, and more likely to have higher engagement, stay in their jobs, and perform at a higher level.

What can you do?

Every school in New Zealand is aware of strategies to build belonging and inclusion, but not all have built psychological safety for both students and staff. This kind of change is achievable only when it’s baked into the system, an integral part of how we function.

That’s why, at the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, we believe successful change occurs when it’s baked into existing work routines. The following strategies to build collective resilience are not complex. To succeed, however, they need to be designed and implemented to fit with your school context, and to become part of the way you operate.

Research demonstrates that psychological safety grows when work routines:

Enable people to get know other team members as people – shown to increase inter-personal generosity and flexibility.
Connect people to the positive impact of their work on others – shown to increase motivation to help others.
Enable people to help each other – a powerful tool for building a culture of inter-personal helping.
Foster collective gratitude by affirming each other’s contributions – leading to more information sharing, kindness, and ‘high quality connections’.
Provide more reward for collective than individual behaviours – shown to increase mutual reliance and helping behaviours.

Where we’ve seen schools create supportive environments, we’ve witnessed the building of collective resilience across the community, making it easier for the people in that community to be more personally resilient. These resilient communities are not mythical or perfect, but do in fact exist around us. Here we share their stories to illustrate and inspire.

Waimairi-iri Kāhui Ako: A case study of collective resilience

Principal Matt Bateman of Burnside Primary is a co-leader of Waimairi-iri Kāhui Ako in Ōtautahi Christchurch along with Raewyn Saunders, Principal of Fendalton Open Air School and Eddie Norgate, Principal of Cobham Intermediate. The long-term commitment and practice of these educational leaders can best be characterised as ‘building a school culture of caring, connection, collaboration, and celebration’. While this is clearly a long-term commitment, their story includes practical strategies and ideas school leaders can readily implement to support staff, student, and community resilience.

Caring – building a culture of caring and support

Every school’s contribution to this Kāhui Ako has been valued from the outset. Smaller primary schools that might have lacked curriculum expertise or deeper pockets have been valued for their cultural leadership and support for the different cultural and ethnic communities across the Kāhui Ako. When a school knows their contribution will be valued, opportunities to share its knowledge and support provided, it becomes easier for schools to engage and contribute to a Kāhui Ako. It helps them move beyond the question, ‘what’s in it for me?’ to also ask, ‘how can we contribute?’, thereby enabling genuine community to develop.

Teachers and individual school leads knew they were valued last year when the Kāhui Ako leadership said, ‘don’t organise relief teachers and come to the meeting, we’re coming to you – with coffee and cake’. Feeling the pulse of their schools and knowing when teachers need support, or a boost, enables the leadership to take supportive action when needed. When the leadership visits each school during this stressful period, the response is ‘thanks for coming to me, this has done more for my wellbeing than attending a meeting ever could’.

A recent Staff Only Day was used to demonstrate to staff that prioritising time for wellbeing was important. After one hour on wellbeing and resilience, the rest of the day was dedicated to recreation pursuits. How did they make sure the activities met teacher need and were therefore actually taken up? The design of the day was handed over to teachers, with a broad input to ensure the widest variety of interests and activities were provided for. The result? Super high attendance, and some feedback on how to make it even better next time.

Connecting – no one is left isolated or alone

Connecting students to their cultural identities, connecting whānau to the school and to each other, connecting leadership across schools, and connecting interest groups across the Kāhui Ako. This cluster of schools brings people together in groups that are relevant and supportive. Ongoing learning groups include new teachers, SENCOs, teachers of Māori, teachers of digital technology, teachers of the new NZ history curriculum. By creating multiple ways to bring people together over their shared interests and needs, this community has built trust and a sense of getting to know each other as people. They’ve been continuously willing to learn about each other, and to be known. The ability to drop the ‘strong leader façade’ has potentially been accelerated by working together through extremely challenging times – namely the recovery and rebuild following the earthquakes that devastated the greater Christchurch area in 2010–14. They have since had to support each other through fire, flood, and a devastating terrorist attack. After the Mosque attacks in 2019, schools sent relieving teachers to badly affected schools within the Kāhui Ako.

Collaborating – together we are stronger

A hard job shared becomes easier and more gets done. This principle has been applied throughout the Kāhui Ako to everything from leadership, through helping students and their families connect to their cultural identity, to finding the experts to take on aspects of the Ministry of Education’s mandated Curriculum Refresh and to tackle the challenges of developing teaching for the NZ History curriculum.

Leadership is shared between three Principals in the Kāhui Ako on a rotating basis. As one leader exits, the new incumbent is mentored by two experienced leaders. Every school leader knows they will have a turn leading the group, with succession planning built into the model.

Cultural leadership in the Kāhui Ako doesn’t have to come from the largest school. Instead, it comes from a diverse primary school whose experience and success has been embraced by the group. The strengths of each school are valued and able to make a valuable contribution. When Burnside Primary hosted iwi and Pacific Island representatives to connect their community to their cultures, students from other schools were invited too. Learning about each other’s strengths has enabled these schools to form an effective division of labour to complete the required Curriculum refresh and be ready to teach the new NZ History curriculum – a powerful example of enabling support to lift morale for educators who have been through a challenging few years.

Celebrating – other people’s successes

In this wider school community, people are regularly celebrated and acknowledged. That’s common enough within schools, but here, the success of the diverse leadership team of one school was celebrated recently. Celebrating a team of very different personalities, with different styles was a deliberate choice. It was a reminder that diversity can work in leadership too, encouraging other schools to consider how they could learn from this approach.

Studies highlight how the celebration of others’ successes is an important factor in building trust. When staff see their success being celebrated and appreciated, rather than envied or

resented by their colleagues, this builds trust. Trust is an essential ingredient in psychological safety, and a culture of helping each other.

Cultural sustainability

When an approach is baked into the system it becomes sustainable. That is exactly the approach this Kāhui Ako has taken to valuing and supporting the cultural identity of its students, staff, and community. Paying attention to culture and identity is now an integral part of how this group has committed to operate. One recent example from Burnside Primary demonstrates how this commitment to cultural sustainability is built on foundations of caring, connection, collaboration, and celebration.

In September of this year Burnside Primary School hosted ‘Way Finder’, ‘Night Sky’, and ‘Navigation’ sessions in an inflatable planetarium at the school. By day, students were able to programme two Mars rovers to cross a crater-field, while a telescope-station focused on the sun, allowing viewers to see solar flares, spots, and constant activity on a screen next to the telescope. In the evenings, Board of Trustees and community took part in sessions after a pot-luck meal together.

As well as learning about the science, Matt describes these sessions as ‘giving everyone a chance to reconnect with who they are, and where they come from, and to do this through the stars.’ He adds, ‘many of our cultures have a rich astronomical history, which they have personally lost, but this “ancient” knowledge really resonated with them. Our Northern hemisphere cultures, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian and many more, were all able to reconnect to another part of “who they are” and to celebrate their culture. Our Southern Hemisphere Polynesian cultures, Samoan, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Māori felt elevated by learning more about their cultures’ exceptional navigational journeys. All through the night sky.’ Never one to miss an opportunity to embed learning in culture, Matt has encouraged the school’s major cultures to create a Cultural Festival item with a star or constellation theme.

Since the start of 2020, educators in New Zealand and around the world have provided practical, emotional and education support to students and their families, pivoted to online and hybrid learning, and become experts in viral hygiene and public health requirements, all whilst dealing with their own challenges at home and worrying about their own families. If ever a group of people deserved to turn the light of caring and connection inwards to support each other, it is our educators. Doing so begins with valuing the time we so often try to squeeze out of busy agendas – the time where we connect as people, as humans who have cherished lives beyond the school gates, and work to make each other feel seen, valued, and supported.

(You can listen to School Principal Matt Bateman’s interview with Denise on her awardwinning podcast, Bringing Wellbeing To Life). {https://nziwr.co.nz/category/education/}

About the author

About the Author

Dr Denise Quinlan is co-Founder of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, creator of practical, teacher-friendly online wellbeing programmes for schools, and the author of the Educators’ Guide to Whole-school Wellbeing. Denise has worked with thousands of educators throughout NZ and around the world. Denise’s work was recognised in 2021 with the International Positive Psychology Association’s Positive Education Practitioner Impact Award, received with her co-Founder at NZIWR. This award cited the ground-breaking work she has done in taking wellbeing to scale through wellbeing for Communities of Practice and advocating for culturally responsive practice as part of wellbeing. Her concern for educator wellbeing led to the creation of Teacher Boost in 2022, a free online community dedicated to supporting wellbeing and resilience. Denise’s awardwinning podcast, Bringing Wellbeing to Life, explores wellbeing topics with leading researchers and practitioners from around the world.