Satisfaction, resilience and achievement. Towards a change in priorities within the framework of new sociocultural and educational paradigms

Abstract

The importance of Satisfaction and Resilience is shown (linked to numerous “social competencies”) in processes of Academic and Professional Achievement in various contexts (scientific, academic, professional). The results support empirical research linked to academic-professional pathways. Our objective was to explain the factors associated with achievement (included as conditions or effects within the models, as independent or dependent variables) and to understand the “reasons” and “processes” that underlie the numerical results (statistics, rankings). These included base, psychosocial, pedagogical-institutional, organizational and structural factors. In particular, we sought to observe the weight of psychosocial variables, which the author named “social competencies” 20 years ago and which today are prioritized (“soft skills”) by countries that lead the rankings in educational quality. Among these, Resilience and Satisfaction have recently been incorporated by PISA (2014) for their importance for achievement within the learning paradigm. A synthesis of studies is presented in which these variables’ weight is shown. The strategy for analysis was micro-meso-macro-micro in light of the author’s theory of three interacting levels or The Three-Dimensional Spiral of Sense. The results show that –as the basis for achievement or as an associated effect- social competencies play a key role in facilitating learning. Without listening, communication, implication, engagement, satisfaction, solid relationships and strategies for overcoming adversity, both learning as well as integral changes in education systems that respond to new demands will be difficult to produce, as will changes at the individual and institutional levels.