RESCUR Surfing the Waves

This chapter presents the development of a resilience program for early years and primary schools to enhance social inclusion, equity and social justice. The program RESCUR Surfing the Waves seeks to provide children at risk in their healthy development with the key competences needed to turn the challenges in their lives into opportunities for growth and positive development. It is a universal school-based program aimed at developing such resilience competences as effective communication, relationship building, developing a growth mindset, self-determination, identifying and using one’s strengths, and turning challenges and adversity into opportunities for growth. This chapter discusses the key principles underpinning the program, the structure and content of the program, and the way it may be implemented by the teachers in the classroom. It also discusses various studies which evaluated the program’s effectiveness. It concludes with the need for further and more rigorous research to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in enhancing the resilience of vulnerable and marginalized children.