Resilience in educational practice
This site connects resilience research with educational practice, with attention to classrooms, families and the wider systems that shape participation.
Before calling someone “non-resilient”, we need to examine the conditions in which they are expected to adapt.
Findings and limitations
In 2024, a targeted preschool programme involved 81 children approaching school entry who were exposed to four or more concurrent developmental risk factors. The programme took place in two kindergartens.
Important: the study was regional and non-representative. Attendance varied. Maturation and everyday educational support may also have contributed, and the findings do not justify simple causal claims.
Read the findings and limitationsDifferent contexts, different needs
The same difficulty can require a different response in a classroom, family or organisation.
Behaviour can be considered alongside learning demands, developmental needs and the support already available.
Classroom resourcesThe aim is to provide enough help for participation while preserving age-appropriate agency.
Family resourcesPersonal, relational and organisational conditions need to be considered together; individual self-care is only one part of the picture.
Professional developmentThe PRACTICE framework
PRACTICE organises observation, contextual assessment, proportionate action and review.
Practical resources
Introductory guide
Map the skills, relationships and environmental conditions that may support adaptation.
Download the starter kitFor educators
Review which supportive conditions are established, inconsistent or absent.
View the checklistFor families
A one-page guide to balancing useful support with age-appropriate agency.
Open the guideBooks and selected scholarship
The practical material draws on published research, doctoral work and a second book-length synthesis of resilience in education.
Published monograph · 2022
English title: Resilience and Starting School
Sárospataki Pedagógiai Füzetek 30, Tokaj-Hegyalja University. ISBN 978-615-6482-02-0.
The volume develops the doctoral research into resilience, developmental risk, protective factors and the transition into school, drawing on a multi-year dataset of 493 children.
View publications and research programmeRóbert Erdei Resilience on YouTube
The channel presents ideas from the books and research in concise form for educators, parents, carers and other professionals.
Core concept
A clear distinction between toughness, positive outcomes and the processes that make adaptation possible.
Watch on YouTubeProtective factors
Individual, family, school and community resources considered together—not as competing explanations.
Watch on YouTubeRisk and development
What Emmy Werner’s research reveals about risk exposure, protective processes and different developmental pathways.
Watch on YouTubeResearch grounded in practice
“Resilience needs to be more than an academic concept, but it should not be reduced to a motivational slogan.”
Róbert Erdei is a qualified psychologist and education professional with more than twenty years of experience in educational institutions, pedagogical support services and higher education. He holds a PhD and is the author of a published monograph, a second book-length manuscript accepted for publication and several scientific publications on resilience.
Much of this work has taken place in disadvantaged regions, where poverty, cumulative developmental risk, disrupted caregiving and educational vulnerability are part of everyday professional practice. This experience underpins a clear position: supporting resilience involves strengthening people while also addressing the relationships, institutions and material conditions around them.
Professional development and collaboration
Sessions can be adapted to the context, participants and aims of a school, university or other organisation.
Downloadable practical guide
The starter kit supports structured reflection on the personal, relational and environmental resources available in a situation.