The Role of Child-Teacher Relationships within Trauma-Informed Education
Author: De Villiers, Rebecca
Date: 2022-08-07
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Teacher Student Relationship,Trauma,Educational Practices,Well Being,Teacher Role,Cultural Influences,Race,Equal Education,Social Justice,Parent Child Relationship,Parent Teacher Cooperation,Program Effectiveness,Ethnicity,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Ability,Racism,Educational Policy,Resilience (Psychology),Elementary School Students,Children

The objective of this literature review is to review contemporary literature regarding the role of child-teacher relationships within trauma-informed education. It first discusses and defines terminology surrounding child-teacher relationships and trauma-informed education. Here, it examines the points of contention and change as different views of trauma and trauma-informed education come to view. The review looks at ten sources, and it focuses on three themes that emerged between them. First, child-teacher relationships offer a foundation for implementing and assessing trauma-informed education. There is a consensus that trauma-informed education offers children connection, and it is beneficial to the child's emotional wellbeing to have a relationship with a stable, predictable adult. The second theme that was present within research on the role of child-teacher relationship within trauma-informed education focused on the role of the teacher. It highlighted contributing factors to why teachers may not engage in trauma-informed education or child-teacher relationship training, and it shows the importance for teachers to build relationships with each other and the school community. Lastly, the literature also expresses positive outcomes for teachers' emotional and mental wellbeing, as well as classroom environment, when they participate in trauma-informed approaches and child-teacher relationship training. The third and final theme of this literature review was the role of culture and equity when discussing child-teacher relationships and trauma-informed education. This theme was the most inconsistent and the least readily agreed upon. Still, it acknowledges that there seems to be a shift within the conversations surrounding child-teacher relationships to consider the roles that culture, race, and equity play. Additionally, there is a shift within conversations regarding trauma-informed education about the essential nature of including equity and social justice. Lastly, the review addresses gaps left in research about how child-teacher relationships exist within the web of relationships for both the teacher and the child within trauma-informed education. For example, it is unclear how trauma-informed education is impacted by the child-parent relationship or the parent-teacher relationship. Additionally, it is also unclear how child-teacher relationships and the effectiveness of trauma-informed approaches are impacted by differences in race, ethnicity, gender, age, and ability. As some of the sources alluded to, we cannot see relationships in a vacuum. Additionally, we cannot see approaches to education, like trauma-informed education, without considering how education is impacted by society or systemic issues of racism and other structures of inequality. Moving forward, there is room for research on the role of child-teacher relationships within trauma-informed education to examine these gaps further. There is also enough evidence to support a deeper look into how education policy can be contributing to the disconnection that child-teacher relationships and trauma-informed education seek to fix.