Examining the Ecological Lens That Educators Employ When Describing Student Experiences of Trauma (Poster 29)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Session 1:15 pm
  In Poster Session: Teacher Education and Student Experiences

Abstract

Reviews of trauma-informed school-wide interventions have uncovered a dearth of knowledge about educator perceptions of student experiences of trauma. Through educator interviews with 34 educators at three midwestern schools PreK-12, I address the following questions: How do educators describe the ecological source of a child’s trauma? How are educator perceptions of trauma related to descriptions of individual supports, behavior and classroom discipline? Educators employ distinct ecological lenses when describing student experience of trauma– ranging from individual pathologizing of trauma to holistically acknowledging the contributions of broader societal inequality on trauma exposure. The interviews illustrate that the source an educator attributes to a child’s trauma is meaningful for how the educator describes implementing classroom supports, responding to behavior and disciplining students.

Author

• Emilia Wenzel, University of Chicago