Exploring Technical Preservice Teachers’’ Perspectives on Resilience in Beninese Secondary Schools

Abstract

In this article, the researcher explores the perspectives of technical preservice teachers about their knowledge of resilience and their use of resilient techniques and practices in the classroom. Participants were selected from the Vocational and Technical Teacher Training School of Lokossa. The design of the study was qualitative hermeneutic and the focus group interview technique was used. The major findings were about the participants’ lack of knowledge of the concept of resilience. However, despite this lack of knowledge, the majority of the participants (70%) mentioned the application of various practices that are related to the promotion of educational resilience and emphasized the importance of establishing a reinforced student-teacher relationship for support and affection. It is, therefore, capital that authorithies in teacher training schools set room, in the curricula, for preservice teachers’ further preparation in understanding what resilience is and how to promote it.