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PME 820 Final Project 

Trauma-Informed Schools & Educators

Abstract:

Schools and educators must provide a safe, inclusive and understanding environment in order to maximize the well-being and academic success of their students. Training educational staff to learn about the effects trauma has on child development, and their subsequent behaviour in the classroom would provide for significantly contributing to student morale, performance, and appropriately implementing behavioural strategies concerning students that have experienced trauma in their lives.

 

Not only would trauma-informed schools benefit students, but it would also provide educators with a strong foundation to understanding how trauma affects child development and how we as educators can help recognize the need for further professional assistance and provide for a better understanding of our students' needs. The purpose of the Critical Annotated Bibliography is to provide educators with a beginning foundation to read scholarly material in order to build a basic foundation in regards to understanding trauma and the implications it has on students. 

Product: Critical Annotated Bibliography: Trauma-Informed Schools & Educators (click on the image below)

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Recommendations: Application to how trauma-informed schools can improve personal and educational contexts 

 

Trauma-informed schools can improve personal and educational contexts by: 

 

  • Reducing the negative stressors in a students life and improving their chance of academic success;

  • Increase resiliency among students; 

  • Improved self-regulation, and reduced behavioural concerns within the school;

  • Providing early intervention to prevent negative outcomes later in adulthood. 

Themes: 

  • Trauma comes in many forms for people such as: abuse (physical, sexual, neglect, witnessing the death of someone close to them, experiencing a violent death of a sibling/peer, experiencing a natural disaster, car accident, domestic violence, being exposed to someone in the household that is mentally ill, suicidal or abuses substances;

  • Trauma and Toxic Stress can  lead to “functional changes in several regions of the brain involved in learning and behaviour;

  • Trauma-informed schools and educators require a commitment to changing the culture, policies and practices that are currently in place for students that have been or are exposed to trauma;

  • Trauma informed-schools with strategic planning in place can address the needs of students, decrease the negative impacts of trauma and increase their potential to reaching educational goals.

Conclusion: How does the research relate to my personal or professional experience? 

 

The research relates to my personal/professional experience in such a way that I will be able to understand better my current students and future students that have either experienced or experiencing trauma. Also, with training and implementation of trauma-informed strategies I will have:

 

  • A stronger and better skill-set to support students with healthier social, emotional and academic development; 

  • A better understanding of my own mental health and when to seek help; 

  • Improved confidence in teaching students with trauma and the ability to know when to seek professional help; 

  • Have strategies that are removed from a traditional approach and ones that are trauma-informed and do not ignore the signs of trauma-induced behaviours;

  • School team will be stronger and better at promoting wellness; 

  • The ability to provide skills and pathways for students to have a healthier future. 

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