Drawing upon findings of a four‐year national research project on variations in the work and lives of teachers in England, this paper provides empirical evidence which contributes to understandings about the importance of resilience in teachers' work. The experience of resilience as perceived by teachers in this research was that it was neither innate nor stable and was much more than a capacity to survive and thrive in extremely adverse circumstances. Rather, it was perceived as being closely allied to their everyday capacity to sustain their educational purposes and successfully manage the unavoidable uncertainties which are inherent in the practice of being a teacher. Their capacity to be resilient fluctuated as a result of the influences of the personal, relational and organisational settings in which they worked. The findings have implications for initial and in‐service professional development programmes, school leadership and the quality retention of teachers.

This paper discusses the background and key findings of a two‐year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded mixed‐method research project (2006–2008) which was designed, within the context of university internationalisation, to provide an investigation of the experiences of first‐year international students during their undergraduate study at four UK higher education institutions. The research explored the complexities of international students' transitional experiences both in terms of their maturation and human development and their intercultural adaptation within a different educational environment and a different culture and society. These two types of transition interactively influenced the nature and process of students' change and development over time. Findings of the research challenge the psychological model of international students' linear intercultural adaptation and point to the presence of a complex set of shifting associations between language mastery, social interaction, personal development and academic outcomes. It is the management of this amalgam which results in intercultural adaptation and the successful reconfiguration of ‘identity’. Moreover, this research suggests that personal, pedagogical and psychological factors are as important as organisational and social cultures in influencing students' adaptation, identity change and ultimate success. The extent and nature of successful change and development can be restricted by the availability of support and the conditions of contact within the environments in which they are engaged.

At a time when the contemporary landscape of teaching is populated with successive and persisting government policy reforms that have increased teachers’ external accountabilities, work complexity, and emotional workload, understanding why and how many teachers are able to sustain their capacity to be resilient and continue to work for improvement is an important quality retention issue. The purpose of this paper is to build upon but take further current understanding of resilience in teachers by exploring in greater depth the nature of resilience in teachers as a relational concept and the ways in which it may be related to the learning and achievement of their pupils. The empirical basis of the paper draws upon analyses of twice yearly semi-structured face-to-face interview data from 300 teachers in different phases of their careers in 100 primary and secondary schools in England over a consecutive three-year period. Through these analyses, the paper contributes additional empirical evidence to the emerging but still limited literature on the factors which influence teachers’ capacity to be resilient. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implication of the findings for the quality retention of teachers.

International students constitute a substantial and growing mobile population globally. However, as yet, the experiences of returnees and the ways in which their overseas studies impact on their identity and professional and personal lives over time have been under‐researched areas. In this article we employ concepts from theories of transnationalism as a framework for the analysis of the experiences of Chinese graduate returnees. The empirical basis for the article is a 20‐month, two‐stage, mixed‐method study of 652 Chinese students who returned home for work on completion of their degrees in UK universities over the last 25+ years. Evidence suggests that their journeys of studying abroad and returning home are dynamic and interconnected transnational experiences. Such experiences are avenues for diverse social networks that reinforce a complex cosmopolitan identity and awareness. They are, also, avenues for transnational(ised) new competences, skills and worldviews, which are increasingly valued by the students themselves upon return home. Irrespective of differences in their demographics and backgrounds, studying and living abroad was perceived by most returnees in our research as a profound identity transformating experience. These new connections, competences and identities enabled them to view and live life with a new sense of self at ‘home’ and, as a result, function in ways that continued to distinguish themselves from those around them over time. The findings have implications for higher education institutions and agencies that are concerned with enhancing the quality of university internationalisation. They also have implications for a broadened empirical and conceptual understanding of transnationalism.

To teach, and to teach at one's best over time, has always required resilience and commitment. Drawing upon findings of a questionnaire survey of 568 primary and secondary school teachers in Beijing and in-depth semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of six teachers with different years of experience, the paper provides empirical evidence about how teachers sustain their sense of resilience and commitment in the context of persistent top-down neoliberal reforms in China's educational system. It argues that being a resilient teacher means more than “bouncing back” from difficulties. Rather, it is influenced by the nature of the contexts in which teachers' work and lives are embedded and driven by their vocational commitment to serve the learning and achievement of the children on an everyday basis and also, over the course of their professional lives.