What makes the difference? Children and teachers talk about resilient outcomes for children 'at risk'

Research has been conducted into childhood resilience, a term which according to A. Masten, K. Best and N. Garmezy (Resilience and development: contributions from study of children who overcome adversity, Development and Psychopathology, 2, pp. 425-444, 1990) is defined as the process of, capacity for or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances. The study to be presented here asked 9-12 year olds and their teachers from primary schools in disadvantaged areas in South Australia what it was they thought made the difference between 'kids with tough lives who do O.K.' and 'kids with tough lives who don't do O.K.' Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory to frame the analysis, this paper explores how the two groups of respondents discussed how the family, the school and the community might help make the difference. While both children and teachers tended to see the role of the family and the community in promoting resilient behaviour in fairly similar terms, the two groups saw very different roles for the school.