Building emotional resilience and wellbeing in education

In today’s complex world, emotional resilience is essential for success, influencing achievement, relationships, wellbeing and quality of life.

Resilience is the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. The World Health Organization prioritises strengthening individual and community resilience to promote a global and sustainable approach to health and wellbeing. It defines resilience as the ability to tolerate stress and difficulty, but emphasises how enriching environments and positive experiences can act as protective factors and construct new reserves of resilience, in mind and body.

Schools should always be equitable, safe and nurturing environments in which every pupil can learn, discover new skills and grow as individuals. The eTwinning annual theme 2024 ‘Wellbeing at school’ is exploring how educators can integrate a whole-school approach to wellbeing and mental health into all levels of education.

Fostering wellbeing and resilience in schools requires a multifaceted approach that includes innovative programmes and collaborative efforts. The following initiatives show how teachers and learners can acquire the necessary skills to navigate challenges with confidence and resilience.

People who feel better, do better

Promoting wellbeing has a central place in the Irish Department of Education’s mission to enable young people to achieve their full potential. A wide range of information and valuable resources on wellbeing are available for schools, pupils and parents to help young people deal with stress and find a sense of purpose, connection and belonging to their wider community.

The Schools4Health project, funded by the EU4Health programme, aims to introduce, strengthen and sustain a health-promoting approach. It engages 16 schools across the EU and works with them to analyse, implement and evaluate good practices in healthy nutrition, physical activity and mental health.

The Erasmus+ funded EMER project aims to empower people to manage their emotions and build emotional resilience. The project offers a comprehensive handbook, educational videos and interactive self-learning activities to equip educators and students with the skills needed to navigate emotional complexities.

Building resilience and awareness

In Germany, the scientifically supported and field-tested MindMatters programme is making significant strides in promoting mental health, wellbeing, respect and tolerance in schools, from primary to secondary level, and is now also supporting vocational schools. MindMatters provides teaching materials and modules for developing a supportive school environment that makes all school community members feel safe, valued and included.

A pilot project by UNESCO, Empowering Coastal Children, aimed to foster resilience and awareness among children facing sea-level hazards in coastal France. By incorporating environmental education and resilience-building activities, this project enhanced pupils’ emotional wellbeing and fostered a deeper connection with nature.

Supporting school staff

Teacher recruitment, retention and wellbeing are ongoing issues in Europe and internationally, but at the same time, wellbeing and stress-related issues for student teachers are under-researched. The Erasmus+ good practice project STeWDUBS explored the wellbeing and workload of student teachers in Europe and applied these insights to toolkits for building support structures (in English, Danish and Finnish).

Another Erasmus+ good practice project, Healthy Minds - Building Emotionally Resilient Children, raised school staff awareness of how wellbeing has many forms that can permeate different areas of school life. In this mobility project, staff attended training courses on enhancing positive relationships, fostering belonging and security and implementing support systems.

Home-school collaboration

Collaboration between home and school is essential in developing children’s resilience. The Psychological resilience for parents project recognises the crucial role parents play in supporting their children’s emotional development. By providing a comprehensive manual, e-learning platform, activities and tools, this project supports parents in becoming active partners in promoting resilience at home and in school.