Lecturer Resilience During Student Unrest: A South African Case Study

Abstract

Over the past few years, local and international universities have seen considerable student unrest in response to unaffordable tuition fees and inequality and even pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, resilience becomes evident in the way people behave in adverse situations. Especially for developing lecturers, resilience may help to respond appropriately to adverse situations, regardless of where the pressures originated from. Therefore, this study investigated the role resilience played in the teaching behaviours and approaches displayed by lecturers during student unrest. Semistructured interviews and the Brief Resilience Scale were applied to generate data from 16 participants. Findings reveal that most lecturers displayed moderate to high levels of resilience and study results strongly relate to the multi-dimensional teacher resilience framework selected for exploring the topic. What emerged, was the lecturers’ determination to teach, as well as their personal agency and collaboration, all contributing to an ability to successfully fulfil their responsibilities. The findings of this study may add value to how university management structures could assist lecturers during times of adversity.