TVETipedia Glossary

Resilience is the ability to plan and prepare for, absorb, withstand, recover from and adapt to adverse events and disruptions’. (It) ‘means working to thrive through adversity rather than survive despite adversity by learning how to identify and capitalise upon any opportunities that crises, disruptions and longer-term evolutions may offer’.

The ability of education systems and learners to withstand, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in ways that promote safety and social cohesion.

Resilience refers to a process by which individuals in adverse contexts recover and even thrive. Resilience can be defined as the capacity of a system, community, or individual potentially exposed to hazards, to adapt. This adaptation means resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure. Resilience depends on coping mechanisms and life skills, such as problem-solving, the ability to seek support, motivation, optimism, faith, perseverance, and resourcefulness. Resilience occurs when protective factors that support wellbeing are stronger than risk factors that cause harm. Activities that promote Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning can contribute to resilience by promoting the core competencies that support wellbeing and learning outcomes (i.e., skills, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships), and which in turn allow children and youth and the education systems they are part of to manage and overcome adversity.

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.