Duffy, Karen (2025) Sunshine After Showers: Creating a Classroom Climate for Resilient Learners. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Preview
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike.
Download (24MB) | Preview
Abstract
My research question is, 'How Can I, as a Classroom Teacher, Enhance the Wellbeing of the
Children in my Classroom to Support Resilient Learners? Essentially, how can I ensure there
is sunshine after the showers within my classroom?
Through the implementation of Educational Action Research (EAR) and a variety of carefully
crafted and designed interventions, I entered my classroom last September with a genuine
compulsion to enhance children's wellbeing and support their resilience.
To begin, I reflected on and considered research already available on the area of wellbeing and
resilience. I contemplated and analysed Piagetian, Erikson and Vygotskian theories on
psychological, sociocultural and developmental ideas on critical milestones in the development
of the child. Furthem10re, the current SPHE Curriculum (1999) served as a beneficial tool in
enabling me to identify current practice in terms of Wellbeing and the proposed draft
specifications (2023) on Wellbeing enlightened me further.
Following on from this, I set about gathering data from my classroom. This was achieved
through the specific and intentional use of a myriad of interventions including circle time, daily
check-ins, the Weaving Wellbeing Programme, Writers Theatre, art activities and selfreflection
through the use of a reflective journal.
Relevant themes were generated and the findings illustrated that my values and their enactment
were of critical importance.
Looking to the future, the findings illustrate that it is crucial for teachers and the educational
community in general to consider and utilise child-friendly, relational and values-based
approaches in order to enhance wellbeing and resilience.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | A Research Dissertation submitted to the Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education, Maynooth University, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education |
| Keywords: | Classroom Climate; Resilient Learners; M.Ed. Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education; |
| Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education |
| Item ID: | 21461 |
| Depositing User: | IR eTheses |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2026 14:47 |
| Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Share and Export
Share and Export