Self-Esteem and Resilience in Students of Teaching: Evolution Associated with Academic Progress

Abstract

Resilience is the ability of the person to face adverse situations and emerge stronger from them. On the other hand, self-esteem is the general assessment that a person makes of himself. In the educational field, situations that can be related to both factors converge. Not too many studies have focused so far on knowing how these variables evolve during the training of future teachers. In the present study, we intend to check the levels of self-esteem and resilience in a sample of teaching students as well as to explore whether there is an association between the different levels of self-esteem and the resilience of the participants. This is a cross-sectional descriptive investigation through an evaluation instrument. The sample consists of 1547 students aged 17–57 years. The sample consisted of 916 primary education students (59.2%) and 631 early childhood education students (40.8%). Of these, 337 were men, 1195 were women, and 14 of them did not indicate their gender. The results confirm a positive association between self-esteem and resilience. Furthermore, an increase in the levels of both variables has been found as students progress in their studies. These data verify that the students seem to be in a position to face adverse situations, as well as qualified to transfer these competencies during the performance of their future teaching work.