EDUC4845 Creating Calmer Classrooms: A Trauma Sensitive Approach

This topic offers a trauma-sensitive approach to support early years, primary, secondary and special education teachers to create positive learning environments to enhance the wellbeing of students with trauma backgrounds. Students will have the opportunity to learn about and experience a range of strengths based, solution focused and supportive environmental strategies and activities such as, empathic listening, movement, narrative, therapeutic story writing and telling, sand tray and other sensory, expressive, artistic and movement activities to reduce stress, build resilience and address obstacles to learning, engagement and participation for this group of students. Students will be provided with case study examples to demonstrate how these activities can be supported through creating area of sanctuary, from rooms, to classroom corners in early years, primary, secondary and special education settings.

This topic aims to assist preservice teachers to increase their knowledge of trauma sensitive and inclusive pedagogies suitable for vulnerable students. It aims to provide evidence-based guidance from the field about practical ways teachers:

• Can create safe, welcoming and aesthetic spaces to support student wellbeing and engagement
• Get on the wavelength of vulnerable and sensitive students through developmentally appropriate expressive and relational activities
• Connect with families and caregivers
• Work collaboratively with colleagues
• Consider their own wellbeing and self-care

1. Develop awareness of the developmental needs of vulnerable children and young people and their carers or family
2. Develop understandings about the challenges faced by vulnerable students, and their parent-caregivers
3. Identify effective ways to provide calm and welcoming learning and supportive environments in which vulnerable young people can experience safety, belonging, consistency and predictability
4. Identify a range of strengths based, creative, expressive and non-verbal approaches that can assist young people to communicate and express their feelings safely and appropriately
5. Apply a chosen approach (for example therapeutic story writing, expressive arts, sandtray, movement) to a case study student relating to current or future setting
6. Develop an understanding of a range of self-care strategies to support the wellbeing of self and colleagues working with vulnerable young people