The recent period has seen challenges rising from Covid, conflict, climate change, and growing conservatism, deepening our awareness of the importance of resilience. So it feels timely that we focused on the theme of resilience at the 2024 Yidan Prize Summit. Our speakers and panelists generously shared valuable food for thought, which prompted me to reflect on some key takeaways from the day’s sessions.

1. Education is key to fostering resilience — both at an individual and societal level

The work of our 2024 Yidan Prize laureate, Professor Wolfgang Lutz, and that of 2021 laureate Professor Eric Hanushek underlines this: how education, and in Wolfgang’s case, particularly girls’ education, creates the conditions for a resilient and thriving society.

2. For the majority of young people around the world, resilience is not a choice

In the fireside chat with War Child Alliance, we heard that resilience “is essential for children living in conflict-affected and resource-constrained areas”.

But as Dr Vee Kativhu pointed out to us in the first panel, a constant state of stress is toxic to a young person’s health. Rather than requiring young people to be resilient against unrelenting stress, we must find ways to mitigate this stress. And we must also be conscious of the pressure this can in turn put on teachers, in their efforts to alleviate the stress experienced by their students.

3. Individual resilience cannot offset systemic failings

In situations where we see high levels of dropout from school, we cannot assume this is because young people lack resilience. Similarly, when we see large numbers of teachers leaving the profession, it’s not because their resilience falls short.

We need to focus on creating the conditions for young people and teachers not just to survive in the system, but to thrive. Not to force resilience, but to nurture it.

4. Resilience is about agency

Resilience is more than coping with adversity — it’s about agency.

Take this story from CAMFED for example, which relates to the work in which we’ve invested our Yidan Prize funds. We work with girls and young women in rural areas of Africa who are marginalized or excluded from education, largely because of poverty. I recall one young woman, Bridget, saying: “Every time we ran out of money and did not have enough to eat, I had to drop out of school and go and work in other people’s fields in exchange for a bucket of maize. And that’s what I came to believe I was worth, a bucket of maize.”

This lack of self-worth is debilitating, it undermines resilience. It was little wonder, then, that CAMFED found that, after finances, the highest cause of school drop-outs among girls was low self-esteem.

To tackle this, CAMFED worked with young people and teachers to co-create a new self-development curriculum. It included Bridget’s story — and when it was introduced, both girls and boys came forward saying, “How did you know my story? Where did you get my story from?” Because for the first time, they had heard something in Bridget’s story that resonated with their own. This curriculum was delivered by school graduates from the local community who were role models for young people. It resulted in lower school drop-outs and an uplift in learning, and a greater confidence and belief among young people that their education was relevant to their future. They had greater agency and were clearly more resilient.

5. To foster resilient systems, we must focus on the most marginalized children

If the system is responsive and resilient enough to work for them, it can work for all. During the third panel, Dr Javier González made the point that resilient systems are those that are responsive to local needs. And it resonated too with what Dr Becky Telford said: that a focus on the education needs of displaced children can have a stabilizing effect, and strengthen the preparedness of school systems in view of the growing challenges associated with displacement and climate change.

6. Creativity is key to resilience

Earlier in 2024, the Yidan Prize Foundation co-hosted a conference with the OECD, and discussed findings of the PISA[1] report on creativity. The report concludes that “creative thinking acts as a powerful stimulus to resilience and well-being.” Nurturing creative thinking skills in students empowers them to innovate, problem-solve, and adapt in an ever-changing world.

7. There’s a complex relationship between education, technology, and resilience

We’ve seen the value of technology in supporting the resilience of education systems, particularly during school closures during the pandemic. And War Child Alliance’s ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ underlines the importance of education technology in situations of conflict and displacement. Indeed, the OECD PISA results also showed that students who were using digital devices for learning, rather than leisure, achieved higher scores.

However, the PISA report also revealed the negative impact of social media on creativity and learning. And we’re seeing growing division among young people associated with the rise in social media use. Education has a vital role to play in supporting young people to navigate the use of digital technology and engage with social media in a way that is constructive and counters division, and thereby fosters resilience. Otherwise, the quality of human connection that is the very bedrock of society — the roots of our collective resilience — is undermined.

8. We need to educate children not only as individuals, but as networks

Learning how to engage in a network, and benefitting from the peer support and challenges it can offer, would seem an essential component of education. We’ve seen this in the work of our Yidan Prize laureates — Fundación Escuela Nueva among them — in promoting methodologies that encourage young people to collaborate in learning, with the educator’s role being one of facilitation and connection.

Networks are so vital in navigating life after school or college. CAMFED’s graduate network is now nearly 300,000 members strong. And it’s offering young women an incentive to stay in their communities after school or college, finding opportunities and engaging them in community development.

9. Resilience is nurtured by community

I believe the greatest resilience stems from when you draw strength from who you are and what you stand for, and who you stand with. I’m honored to stand with fellow laureates, members, friends, and partners of the Yidan Prize community, who together represent the richness and diversity of research and practice in education, and who offer inspiration and evidence for what’s possible.

Together, we stand for education’s transformative potential; for the prospect of creating a better world through education. And together, as a global education community, we can make it happen.

——
Lucy Lake
Director of Global Engagement, Yidan Prize Foundation; 2020 Yidan Prize for Education Development Laureate