At the Frontlines of Healing: Educator Perspectives on Addressing Racial Stress and Trauma in Schools

• In Event: Racialized Emotions, Trauma, and the Ethics of Feeling in Teacher Education

Abstract

Purpose: Race-related stressors are a part of the schooling experiences of many youth of color, and educators play a vital role in shaping how RST is recognized, addressed, or ignored. Understanding how educators perceive the conditions that enable or constrain their ability to engage with racial stress and trauma (RST) is essential to transforming schools into spaces that resist racism, promote racial healing, and affirm the identities and experiences of youth of color. From relationships, policies, curricula, and discipline practices — the educational ecology (students, staff, sociopolitical, institutional, structural forces) as a whole also plays a critical role in either compounding or addressing RST (Author, year).

Although research highlights the value of culturally responsive teaching and equity-centered environments (Gay, 2018), many educators report discomfort, lack of training, and systemic barriers in addressing race-related issues (Mathews et al., 2022). Drawing on Comas-Díaz, et al. (2019) framing of RST as “individual and collective injuries,” we posit that students and educators of color experience repeated exposure to race-based harm. Teachers are often positioned as frontline responders to student RST, yet few studies explore their perceived capacity to address and disrupt RST. Thus, the current study explores what educators perceive to be the conditions under which RST is addressed in schools through three sub-aims: (1) What do educators identify as facilitators and barriers to addressing RST? (2) How do educators perceive their self-efficacy in addressing RST? (3) What strategies of resistance do educators use?

Theory and Method: A critical-ecological framework, integrating critical race theory (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002) and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) is used to examine race and power across multiple levels of the educational ecology. Two 90-minute educator focus groups (N = 15) were conducted on how racism and RST are addressed in two multi-racial high schools. Transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun et al., 2023), with inter-coder agreement established.

Findings: Key themes across different levels of the school ecology surfaced: 1) Educators report competing priorities undermined adequately addressing RST and are isolated as agents of change amid structural racism, 2) Punitive disciplinary norms hinder healing-centered efforts, yet teacher-led coalitions foster collective action which is bolstered by school-level commitment to fostering an (anti)racist environment, 3) critical consciousness is necessary to engage in the work, and the significance of critical curriculum, pedagogical strategies and tools to address different manifestations of racism (e.g., interpersonal, collective, institutional).

Significance: This study contributes to a limited body of literature on understanding educators' strategies of resistance and healing in navigating RST with a critical school ecological lens. If schools are to become spaces where youth of color are affirmed, protected, and can thrive, we must confront the RST within educational settings. Understanding how educators perceive their capacity to address RST uplifts not only what is working—but what must change—for healing-centered, anti-racist practices to take root. Implications for supporting racially literate trauma- informed and healing approaches in teacher development and suggestions for transforming schools to resist racism and promote healing will be discussed.

Authors

• Sophie D'Souza, Stanford University

• Farzana Tabitha Saleem Adjah, Stanford University

• Lionel Howard, The George Washington University