Healing the education system begins with calling it for what it is.

What we are not openly talking about right now is the trauma within the education system.

It’s now common practice for teachers (and pre-service teachers) to participate in trauma-informed training, developing awareness and skills to work with individual young people who have experiences of trauma and may present with various behaviours as a result. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common in our young people, with 72% of young people in Australia being exposed to at least one ACE. Examples of ACEs can range anywhere from bullying, parents divorcing, through to exposure to domestic violence, sexual abuse etc. When young people are exposed to multiple or repeated ACEs, they are more likely to experience trauma. Teacher’s learn that trauma is not necessarily the event itself (or even the scale), but it is the individual’s response to that event, which is held in our bodies.Trauma can lead to difficulties with self-regulation, concentration and forming healthy attachments with others (just to name a few).

But what is a pandemic on the scale of adverse life experiences? A lockdown (or 6)? Global warming? Systemic Racism? What impact is this combination having on us over a multiple year period?

What happens when the traumatic events impact the collective?

What we are seeing now (but not quite talking about) is an education system made up of traumatised individuals, trying to return to the same system that existed before these events took place. A system that is pretending that 262 days of lockdown didn’t change us. A system that is not directly addressing or providing solutions to our global problems, but is still found to be providing 20th century approaches to teaching and learning. It is also a system where the young people turn to the adults (who are currently carrying a lot) for support when feeling unsafe. A system where not only the young people, but the adults too, have experienced trauma.

While we all wait for the whole system to be overturned, there are some ways we can respond to best support the adults working in the education system.

Step one: Talk about it.

Language is always so important and let’s be real, locking down six times was definitely traumatic. For some, returning to ‘normal’ was also traumatic. Naming the experience helps us in finding ways to move forward.

Step two: remember what is healing for our young people is also healing for us.

Trauma is stored in the body, so talking about it only gets us so far. Patterned repetitive rhythmic activities (PRRAs) assist us in bringing ourselves out of an anxious state and into a more cognitive one. PRRAs should be FUN to do and include any activities that have a rhythmic pattern like singing, drumming, boxing, swinging, running, jumping on a trampoline, hip hop etc. More on PRRAs from Dr Bruce Perry here: PRRAs

Step three: nurture the sense of belonging for school staff

Just like our young people, connection to others and strong relationships help us to heal. I was lucky enough to conduct a study with a group of teachers recently and I wanted to find out what helped them to show up everyday. What were the protective factors?

Overwhelmingly, this group of teachers identified that colleague support was the most protective factor, with leadership support scraping in second. 

It is more important than ever that teachers feel like they belong to the school community and have colleagues they can turn to for support. Sounds easy, but schools are exceptionally time-poor right now. These relationships can be built and nurtured in micro-moments throughout the day and this school did exactly that. Some of the strategies included 5 minute team briefings, a check out prompt question to close each day with a buddy and small group debriefs.

Last and most important step: prioritise staff wellbeing.

We can’t achieve any other objectives if we don’t have a ‘well’ team to do the work. I highly recommend creating an authentic wellbeing plan with your team. This can include creating rituals and routines, strategies to celebrate the wins and debrief the challenges and plans for professional development.

I am now working alongside schools to respond to the education crisis. If you would like to learn how I can support your team, please get in touch: megan@megancorcoran.com.au