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Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
DA District Administration
Survey: Teachers need training in trauma
With students returning to school after long closures, trauma-informed
approaches in teaching may be more valuable than ever before. Yet 7 in
10 educators don't feel prepared to implement such practices.
By: Melissa Ezarik
May 8, 2020
Nearly all educators (98%) agree that training in trauma-informed
classroom practices is something all teachers need. And 82% say part of
the role of teachers and staff is to connect students experiencing
psychological trauma or distress with mental health support services.
But 7 in 10 do not feel adequately prepared to implement
trauma-informed approaches in teaching.
That’s according to a survey of 8,054 K-12 educators across 11 states,
conducted between November 2018 and March 2020 by Kognito, a developer
of role-play simulations to help prepare professionals and students to
lead conversations in real life to improve social, emotional and
physical health. Also sponsoring the survey was The Center for Health
and Health Care in Schools and Mental Health America of Greater
Houston’s Center for School Behavioral Health.
Only half of the educators surveyed even feel they are prepared to
recognize signs of trauma in their students. Yet supporting students
during the COVID-19 pandemic and their return to school may require
trauma-informed training more than ever.
As Adam D. Brown, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone in New York, explained
in an article for the academic medical center, some children and adults
may experience traumatic stress that challenges their ability to cope.
Typical reactions that children age 10 and younger may exhibit after a
traumatic event include unwanted thoughts of images, negative feelings,
avoidance of reminders or problems with attention, and arousal and
reactivity symptoms such as being startled more easily or having an
increase in stomachaches.
“Shifting to a trauma-informed practice is an evolution that will take
place over days, months and years as educators learn to recognize the
many ways that trauma impacts students and how they can transform their
teaching to make students feel safe, valued and welcome,” says Jennifer
Spiegler, senior vice president of strategic partnerships at Kognito.
“And it’s a process that has to be supported across the school
community, including policies related to discipline and restorative
justice.”
Still, even a short PD offering can help educators develop attitudes
and behaviors in line with trauma-informed practices, Spiegler says.
Kognito’s subscription-online experiential training program for school
staff called “Trauma-Informed Practices for K-12 Schools”, which takes
about 30 to 45 minutes to complete, is an example.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one district using the training,
which all staff are being asked to complete before the beginning of the
new school year, Spiegler says.
Additional resources for educators are available through the Attachment
& Trauma Network and The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
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