Trauma-informed care

What is a trauma-informed approach to education?

Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognises the widespread impacts of trauma on an individual’s life. It focuses on creating safe and supportive environments in order to avoid re-traumatisation. Schools are ideal places to implement trauma-informed care as they are already intended to be places aiming to nurture, support and guide children and youth.

Trauma-informed care is an assets-based approach which guides educators to focus on students’ strengths, rather than focusing on the challenges they may currently be facing (e.g., learning a new language, potentially struggling with trauma and cultural bereavement).

Trauma-informed care in education instead focuses on the existing knowledge and skills an individual brings with them into the classroom and utilises these as a route to healing.

Why is it needed in schools?

Trauma impacts individuals in numerous ways. One major impact is that it can block a child’s ability to focus and to learn. If students attend a school where the staff are not trauma-informed and the school is not set up as a safe space for people recovering from trauma, they will struggle to thrive.

Trauma-informed care is proven to improve educational outcomes, reduce problematic behaviours and improve feelings of self-worth for individuals to help them on their journey to healing.

Children and youth who have experienced war, danger and forced displacement need a safe place to land when they arrive in the UK. They need trauma-informed schools and staff to collaborate with them to help them resettle, rebuild, heal and learn.

How can it benefit students and teachers?

Trauma-informed care within education helps create safe learning environments and has been proven to result in improved student attendance, engagement and academic performance. It also has a huge impact on reducing behavioural issues and helps schools to find better ways to support students to stay in education and avoid exclusions.

This approach focuses on positive behaviour management through relationship building, goal setting and working in partnership with students rather than using shouting, exclusions, detentions and other common tools which may re-traumatise students and make them see school as a threatening place where they are unwelcome. Trauma-informed schools are happier more respectful places for everybody.

Explore ready-made tools from the National Education Union for transforming your school into a trauma-informed setting in this dedicated toolkit.

Trauma-informed settings focus on the six key principles of trauma-informed care.

Click on each tile below to learn more.

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1. Safety. Schools should prioritise physical, emotional and psychological safety by ensuring classrooms and other spaces are designed to be welcoming and staff are equipped to properly support and nurture their students. Examples: Mindfulness Moments, SEL in the classroom, visual timetables to create a sense of control, trauma training for staff. 2. Trust and transparency. Schools should build trust through clear, consistent and honest communication and by establishing reliable systems surrounding expectations, rules, safeguarding and other important policies and procedures. Examples: translated school brochure with lots of visuals and an interpreter if necessary to allow families to communicate fully and clearly with school staff before their child’s first day. 3. Peer support. Healthy relationships are key to healing from trauma. Educators should aim to embed team building, group and paired activities, buddy schemes and staff-student mentoring initiatives into daily school life to ensure newcomer students have multiple routes to building new, healthy relationships with their peers and adults in school. Example: Use the IRC’s Being a Buddy resources as a place to start. 4. Collaboration and mutuality. Schools should acknowledge power imbalances present and seek to address these by promoting shared decision-making with students and families and fostering partnerships with families to ensure the best outcomes for students. Examples: IRC’s At Home Together Booklets to ensure parents are included in their child’s education out of school hours. Expectations shared both ways between school and families so they can work together to help the student to flourish. 5. Empowerment, voice and choice Schools should focus on individuals’ strengths, resilience and self-determination by giving all students control over their choices and future ambitions. Examples: utilising culturally responsive teaching practices to ensure students’ voices are valued, respected and celebrated within school. 6. Cultural, historical and gender issues. Schools should acknowledge and respect diversity by understanding how culture, race, ethnicity, gender and history intersect with trauma and can influence an individuals’ experiences and well-being. Example: adopt an identity-informed approach to trauma, implement culturally responsive pedagogy across school.

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Look at the table below which explores potential past traumatic events, the likely impacts of these on students and strategies schools can utilise to work with these students in a trauma-informed way:

What has the student experienced?What is the likely impact of this?Principles of trauma-informed care. Which TIC principle can support this student?Example of school strategy. What does this principle look like in practice?
Killings, injury threat, disappearances.Chronic fear, hypervigilance.Safety.Visual timetable with clear timings, warnings before fire alarms, introduce staff and roles.
Oppression, secrecy.Unable to trust, destruction of core beliefs.Trust and transparency.Expectations, procedures and policies explained to families. Honest communication at all times.
Death of loved one, separation, forced displacement. Breaking of bonds, loss of community.Peer support.Buddy schemes, staff mentors, group work, extra-curricular activities, games.
Oppression, impossible choices, human rights violations. Powerlessness, unable to trust.Collaboration and mutuality.Regular, accessible communication with families, bilingual homework, translanguaging.
Human rights violations, oppression, lack of choice, impossible choices, helplessness.Loss of agency, helplessness, humiliation, degradation, powerlessness.Empowerment, voice and choice.Student-led goal setting, student and family involved in key choices. Use culturally responsive pedagogy. Use culturally responsive pedagogy.
Discrimination, invasion, occupation.Humiliation, powerlessness, unable to trust.Cultural, historical and gender issues.Ensure basic religious, cultural and gender needs are met (e.g., halal food, prayer spaces). Use culturally responsive pedagogy.

In Units 3–5, you will review the strategies above in greater detail as part of the Healing Classrooms 3-step programme.

Poem – My Hazara people by Shukria Rezaei

Risk and protective factors