Israeli teacher trainees’ perceptions of the term moral resilience

The aim of this study is to present an approach for creating an educational process that can affect teacher trainees’ moral resilience, while investigating the manner in which they – as teachers – perceive the concept of moral resilience.

A study questionnaire, designed especially for the current study, was distributed online among trainees in a teacher-training college in Israel and was completed by 123 participants.

Two major themes emerged in trainees’ conceptualizations of the notion of moral resilience: the role of the organisation in which the teaching takes place, and mechanisms that contribute to the development of moral fibre, which creates resilience.

The following points should be addressed early on in the teacher-training process: The teaching and acquisition of tools that are fundamental to the development of moral resilience, through cognitive and experiential processes, not only through theoretical study. The construction of a supportive environment will enable students to use their internal resources for coping with events that require mental resilience and which thus serve to develop moral resilience.

This paper helps to establish a discourse and develop terminology to implement this subject.