Understanding Teacher Resilience: Keys to Well-Being and Performance in Chilean Elementary Education

Teachers' ability to manage stress and daily challenges is crucial to their professional development and well-being. By examining how Chilean elementary school teachers perceive the growth in their resilient behavior, this study seeks to determine the predominant factors that foster resilience in these individuals. Sixty-three public school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews as part of a qualitative analysis employing deductive and inductive coding. The results show that teacher resilience is built through a complex interaction between personal, professional, and contextual factors. Among the most important factors are self-care, psychosocial support, and an institutional environment that facilitates teachers' emotional well-being. Relationships with students and their families also support this resilience, creating an atmosphere of trust and collaboration in the classroom. The study highlights that strengthening resilience not only improves the teaching experience but also has a positive impact on students' well-being and academic performance. Integrating self-care strategies, support networks, and family alliances in teacher training and education policies is essential to developing healthy and sustainable school environments. The study concludes by emphasizing the importance of specific training programs that give teachers effective tools to manage stress and adversity better. Although limited to elementary education in Chile, this study invites future research that expands the analysis to other education levels and cultural settings, offering a more comprehensive view of resilience in education.