Educational resilience has received considerable attention in the literature in the past three decades, with particular reference to indicated and selective interventions. This paper construes resilience within a generalist, universal perspective and examines how classrooms may serve as protective and competence-enhancing contexts for all their students. Various processes, such as caring relationships, active engagement, inclusion, collaboration, positive beliefs and expectations, and recognition, were identified in a naturalist study of Maltese primary school classrooms operating as optimal learning environments. The study suggests that classrooms, which organize themselves as caring, inclusive and learning and pro-social centred communities, may operate as protective and competence-enhancing contexts for all their students. (Contains 1 note.)