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Behavioral Sciences
Volume 15
Issue 12
10.3390/bs15121603
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Pathways to Wellbeing: Reconceptualizing Resilience to Foreground Marginalized Teachers’ Agentic Resistance

by
Ji Hong
*,
Lijie Liu
,
Yijia Chen
,
Soojeong Lee
,
Jing Zhao
,
Travis Dean
and
Taylor Roloff
Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, University of Arizona, 1430 E. 2nd Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 1603; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121603
Submission received: 30 September 2025 / Revised: 13 November 2025 / Accepted: 17 November 2025 / Published: 21 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educator Well-Being and Resilience: Paradigms, Pathways, and Possibilities)
Versions Notes

Abstract

This study reconceptualizes resilience by centering marginalized teachers’ agentic resistance as a critical pathway to wellbeing. Using critical qualitative inquiry, we conducted in-depth interviews with 17 U.S. teachers who identified with marginalized racial, gender, and/or sexual identities to explore how they resist structural oppression and sustain their professional and personal identities. Findings revealed that resistance emerged in various ways, including inclusive curriculum design, confrontation with colleagues or administrators, embodied identity expression, and support drawn from contexts and resources for resistance. These resources included social movements and ancestors’ legacies, demonstrating that resistance is not merely individual coping but a collective, identity-affirming practice. We argue that resilience must be reframed to include intentional and proactive resistance, which enables marginalized teachers to challenge oppressive school structures, promote educational equity, and sustain their own flourishing. This study offers a critical framework that shifts resilience from passive endurance to politically engaged practice, emphasizing the need for institutional supports that empower marginalized teachers to resist, persist, and thrive in inequitable educational systems.
Keywords: marginalized teachers; agentic resistance; teacher resilience; teaching wellbeing; critical qualitative inquiry marginalized teachers; agentic resistance; teacher resilience; teaching wellbeing; critical qualitative inquiry

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Hong, J.; Liu, L.; Chen, Y.; Lee, S.; Zhao, J.; Dean, T.; Roloff, T. Pathways to Wellbeing: Reconceptualizing Resilience to Foreground Marginalized Teachers’ Agentic Resistance. Behav. Sci. 2025, 15, 1603. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121603

AMA Style

Hong J, Liu L, Chen Y, Lee S, Zhao J, Dean T, Roloff T. Pathways to Wellbeing: Reconceptualizing Resilience to Foreground Marginalized Teachers’ Agentic Resistance. Behavioral Sciences. 2025; 15(12):1603. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121603

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hong, Ji, Lijie Liu, Yijia Chen, Soojeong Lee, Jing Zhao, Travis Dean, and Taylor Roloff. 2025. "Pathways to Wellbeing: Reconceptualizing Resilience to Foreground Marginalized Teachers’ Agentic Resistance" Behavioral Sciences 15, no. 12: 1603. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121603

APA Style

Hong, J., Liu, L., Chen, Y., Lee, S., Zhao, J., Dean, T., & Roloff, T. (2025). Pathways to Wellbeing: Reconceptualizing Resilience to Foreground Marginalized Teachers’ Agentic Resistance. Behavioral Sciences, 15(12), 1603. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121603

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