Objectives and LEarning Outcomes
EMJM FLOURISH a Joint Master Degree in Resilience in Educational Contexts which will build the capacity of educators and practitioners to promote and nurture the resilience of children and young people from vulnerable and marginalised backgrounds. Resilience serves as a leverage for equity, promoting inclusion and ensuring that all school students will be provided with the opportunity to be successful and thrive academically, socially and emotionally. This Master’s Programme becomes particularly relevant in the post-COVID-19 context, as more attention and priority is being given to mental health, wellbeing and resilience in education, and to equity issues as vulnerable children have been the hardest hit by the pandemic.
EMJM FLOURISH provides training to practitioners and educators in promoting and building resilience in educational contexts at various levels through a systemic and interdisciplinary approach. Course participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable and marginalised children and young people through programme implementation, classroom climate and the whole school system such as working collaboratively with learners, colleagues, parents and the community, whilst taking care of their own resilience and wellbeing. The Master’s programme will be informed by an inclusive, systemic, and participatory approach to resilience development, involve the whole school community and the parents and local community, with evidence- informed and culturally responsive interventions.
INNOVATIVE FEATURES OF EMJM FLOURISH
- The broad approach of EMJM FLOURISH, focusing not solely on knowledge and content but on developing the requisite resilience skills to be a successful professional in the workplace and thus increasing participants’ employability and entrepreneurship.
- The focus of an interdisciplinary and systemic approach to resilience, drawing on the knowledge from various disciplines and focusing on how educational systems may collaborate with other systems such as the family and the community to nurture children’s resilience.
- The balanced approach between theory, practice and research.
- The innovative mixed methodology, including an experiential and participative approach, and making use of tutor-led, collaborative, and self-directed strategies.
- The development of course participants’ own resilience and social and emotional competence.
- The value added experience of studying at various universities through an in vivo cross-cultural methodology incorporating at least three mobility placements in different Member States of the European Union.
- The contributions by a team of leading international experts on resilience with attention to cross cultural issues.
- A summer school in South Africa where course participants will have the opportunity to learn about resilience practices in a different cultural context.
Students who follow the EMJM FLOURISh programme successfully, will be able to:
- Critically examine and evaluate the main theories of resilience in children and young people;
- Identify the risk and protective factors for children and young people from marginalised contexts;
- Identify the key resilience competences children need for healthy development and relate them to the relevant theory and research across cultural contexts;
- Critically analyse the processes that influence children’s acquisition of resilience competences through instructional, curricular and contextual approaches;
- Critically review the evidence on the effectiveness of resilience programmes for children and young people, and and effectiveness processes may vary across cultures;
- Identify the key factors that influence programme implementation quality, including adaptation issues;
- Analyse the use of experiential and collaborative approaches in resilience teaching and learning within universal interventions catering for diverse learning needs;
- Evaluate the different methods required for the assessment of resilience competences;
- Identify the key components of resilience-enhancing classroom and school climates within a whole school approach to resilience and wellbeing;
- Appreciate the importance of identifying the need for additional support for some children and young people and ensure that this is adequately addressed;
- Appreciate the relationship between practitioner and children’s resilience and the need to promote the practitioners’ resilience within the systemic, ecological framework;
- Identify key strategies which promote the resilience of practitioners working with children and young people
- Identify the different ways in which practitioners can collaborate with parents, carers and other professionals in the development of children’s resilience within a transdisciplinary approach;
- Demonstrate knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methodologies in research on the promotion of resilience in children and young people;
- Demonstrate knowledge of ethical dilemmas and ethical codes of conduct when engaging in research and practice in their profession.
SKILLS:
- Apply the prevention science framework to promote the resilience of children and young people;
- Make use of an evidence-informed framework in their resilience-related practice;
- Implement, monitor and evaluate resilience programmes in different settings and cultural contexts;
- Engage in positive interpersonal and collaborative interactions with children and young people;
- Deliver and facilitate resilience activities in group contexts through an experiential, interactive and collaborative pedagogy;
- Select and apply methods of assessment of resilience competences, with particular reference to formative assessment;
- Engage in and role model resilience competences in their practice settings;
- Identify children’s needs for additional support and facilitate access to such support without stigmatising the users;
- Create and contribute to caring, collaborative, inclusive and culturally responsive classroom and school climates;
- Critically reflect on their own socio-emotional competences and actively and proactively participate in actions to increase their own growth and resilience;
- Engage collaboratively with parents, carers and other professionals in initiatives to develop the resilience of children and young people within a collaborative approach;
- Provide crisis management and interventions in coping with trauma, loss, stress and adversity;
- Engage in continuous self-reflection in seeking to improve practice in resilience building;
- Demonstrate competence in identifying research questions, reviewing relevant literature, selecting appropriate methodologies, using quantitative and qualitative research methods, and presenting findings;
- Produce evidence of skills in applying a scientific approach to the study of a professional practice issue.
