Novice teachers often struggle in their first year. Some succumb to illness, depression, or burnout, and some even decide to abandon teaching as a career option. The classic stressors identified by new teachers have been remarkably consistent over the years, and their challenges have been well chronicled (Corcoran, 1981; Gordon & Maxey, 2000; Gratch, 1998; Huberman, 1989; McIntyre, 2003; Veenman, 1984). Less has been written, however, about the "human strengths" (Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003, p. 13) that novice teachers demonstrate when they confront and overcome the stress of first-year teaching. In this article, I will focus on novice teachers' resilience as one of the assets that many beginners bring to their first teaching position and on the relationship between resilience and two related human strengths, personal efficacy and emotional competence. I will briefly review the literature on resilience, personal efficacy, and emotional intelligence, and these three concepts will be compared and contrasted within the context of novice teacher success and retention. I will use the profile of a novice teacher in Toronto, Ontario, to illustrate how beginning teachers cope with problems and overcome difficulties, remain optimistic about their choice of profession, and commit to teaching over the long term. I will discuss possible implications for faculties of education, school boards, and schools. Finally, I will make several suggestions for future research.
