Development and validation of a scale to measure the resilience of schools: Perspectives of young people from vulnerable and challenging territories

This article presents the development and validation of a scale for young people, which measures the resilience of schools in ensuring the educational pathways of students in vulnerable and challenging territories. This scale was developed within a national-level project, conducted in Portuguese border regions with Spain, which are peripheral contexts with economic, social, cultural, and educational disadvantages, but with locally-situated promising dynamics.

Resilient schools, from an ecological perspective, are sensitive and committed to their internal and external settings. These schools act as a whole to face problem solving and risk situations, while also needing to support youth educational pathways and fulfill their role. This is particularly important in contexts with territorial disparities and specificities, as is the case of border regions.

The Resilience Scale of Schools – Youth Version (RSS-Y) integrates dimensions related to schools’ focus and priorities, as well as practices and resources. Its development took into consideration that schools in vulnerable territories deal with specific constraints and fewer opportunities. In addition, this scale seeks to study the characteristics of resilience that young people identify in their schools and how they perceive their schools’ support.

This quantitative scale was developed following a multi-step approach and was applied to 3,968 young people (9th to 12th grade). It comprises 17 items, rated on a five-point Likert scale to assess agreement.

Statistical analysis ensure the internal consistency (Factor 1, α = .846; Factor 2, α = .845; Factor 3, α = .789) and the validity of this scale, indicating adequate psychometric properties to measure students’ perspectives on the resilience characteristics of schools. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) proposes a three-factor structure that explains 57.393% of the total variance. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicates that this model is a good fit with the data.

The RSS-Y can provide an important contribution to educational research developed in more deprived territories, but also to school contexts, since it recognizes the importance of schools’ differentiated approaches and highlights characteristics that promote the resilience and quality of schools.