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Trauma-Aware Education distils the very latest knowledge on complex trauma, its effects on children in the school system, and how to best help these young students progress to a life of meaning and safety.
Now, more than ever, in a world of stress, disadvantage and unpredictability, schools struggle to manage the confronting needs of some of our most disadvantaged and vulnerable learners - those suffering complex trauma. This type of trauma stems from repeated interpersonal harm done to children, including physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, significant neglect, and the experience of family or other relational violence. These learners require a ‘trauma-aware’ response. Behaviour management techniques that may work for most learners often fail when used with trauma-impacted children.
This book assists educators from an individual and system perspective in developing trauma-aware education frameworks to enable learners and educators to avoid the devastating effects of complex trauma on mental health. It examines and discusses the impacts of complex and other trauma on learners and how trauma-aware education provides an informed approach to remedy these concerns.
Topics covered include:
Front Matter
Chapter 1. Becoming Aware of the Impact of Trauma and Trauma-Aware Education
Chapter 2. The Research Informing Trauma-Aware Education
Chapter 3. The Neuroscience of Learning and Complex Trauma
Chapter 4. Behaviour Management (Behaviourism verses Neuroscience)
Chapter 5. Trauma-Aware Strategies (Safety, Relationships, Emotional Regulation)
Chapter 6. The Complex Intersection Between Trauma and Disability
Chapter 7. Trauma-Aware Early Childhood Education and Care
Chapter 8. Trauma-Aware Staff Support: Looking after our Educators
Chapter 9. Leading Trauma-Aware Education
Chapter 10. A final word from the author
References
"In Trauma-Aware Education, Judith Howard effectively opens the door for all educational professionals and policy makers to enter into what has become an international movement for trauma-aware schooling. At once comprehensive and accessible, Prof. Howard’s book carefully delineates the neurobiological and psychological underpinnings for a trauma-aware approach to teaching and learning, showing that it is indispensable in our current age. Most importantly, the book shows compassion for educators by suggesting practical and commonsense measures for taking action on the insights provided by research. Prof. Howard’s book is a gift to education sites and systems — and the children they serve — in Australia and around the world."
- Michael Gregory, Clinical Professor of Law, Faculty Director, Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative at Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, USA.
"Dr Judith Howard’s new book is an essential guide for teachers, school leaders, allied professionals, and educational systems leaders. While certainly practical for education professionals, this book has the rigorous breadth and depth required to be mandated reading for pre-service teachers and university teacher training courses. As one of Australia’s pioneers in the emerging and much needed paradigm of trauma-aware education, Dr Howard calls us into action by providing the developmental story of the field itself, the growing evidence base, and the need to frame trauma-aware education as a multi-disciplinary and interconnected practice approach."
- Tom Brunzell, Director, Berry Street Education Model & Honorary Fellow, University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education
"Dr. Judith Howard is cultivating leading-edge work in the areas of trauma awareness and trauma-informed education. In this book, she not only defines what trauma is in its varying degrees and complexities but explains the need for higher education to prepare pre-service teachers to deeply understand how adversity and trauma impact the developing nervous systems of learners. This book is critical for practitioners in education but also a lighthouse for faculty in teacher preparation programs, along with all those who sit beside our children and youth in our communities."
- Dr Lori Desautels, Assistant Professor in educational neuroscience and trauma at Butler University, Indianapolis, USA.
"Dr. Judith Howard, a leader in trauma-aware education, utilises her knowledge, experience, and research in this book to ensure the reader can make a change in whatever role they fulfill. This is a must-read book for anyone who works with children and young people!"
- Mathew Portell, Director of Communities (PACES Connection), Founder of the Trauma-Informed Educators Network, and Nashville Public Schools 2022 Elementary Principal of the Year, USA.
