Different places, different faces: understanding diverse students’ resilience when moving between home and school cultures

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to understand the school and life experiences of refugee young women and to explore the ways in which they individually and collectively cultivated their resilience. It identified the challenges and resources they encountered when negotiating different home and school cultures and the impact on their resilience. It used mixed-methods that incorporated visual approaches to elicit culturally relevant accounts of their home and school lives. The findings suggest that the resilience of these young girls involved a particular set of resources and challenges which oppose the often normative and value laden perspectives that arise from Western constructions of resilience. The recommendations propose the need to reinforce culturally appropriate ways of fostering the capacities of the individual, family and school to enhance the resilience of refugee young women.