Trauma-informed Pedagogies

Teaching with Care: Practical Trauma-Informed Approaches

In the South African context - where many students are learning, as Qambela (2021: 130) puts it, "in the midst of death, grief and trauma" - trauma directly shapes who can focus, engage and stay the course. This webinar asks what it means to teach in ways that recognise these realities, in trauma-informed ways. Drawing lightly on trauma theory and neuroscience, and informed by Qambela's work on the (re)humanisation of education alongside Bitanihirwe and Imad's principles for trauma-informed practice, the session moves between the conceptual and the practical. We work through defining trauma and its effects to practical classroom choices - emotional check-ins, predictable structures, meaningful choice, and small, discipline-agnostic changes that build safety and connection into our teaching. The session is experiential before instructional, and turns a compassionate eye on educators too — the emotional labour this work asks of us, and how we sustain ourselves while holding space for others. No prior background is needed, just a willingness to reflect honestly on the people in front of you, and yourself among them.