Lucy Cavell
Hope on the frontline: Exploring practitioner perspectives of childhood trauma recovery.
This qualitative study sought to explore practitioner perspectives of childhood trauma recovery. Utilising purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews alongside a combination of phenomenological and narrative methodologies cultivated a deeper understanding of lived experience, whilst simultaneously offering valuable insights into occurring themes of hope. A grounded approach to analysis was employed to find meaning from data collected from nine frontline practitioners, representing nine professions across England.
Frontline practitioners demonstrated a keen understanding of childhood trauma, offering valuable insights into barriers and protective factors that can hinder or contribute to trauma recovery.
The effects and implications of trauma are vast and cannot be viewed deterministically. Trauma survivors should be treated as individuals, representing complex stories, contexts, needs and outcomes. Recovery was often identified where trauma responses no longer impinged on day-to-day living, where an integrative narrative could be identified, and where a hopeful future could be reimagined.
Findings show that the current systems in place to support children and young people are unable to consistently facilitate the quality and quantity of service that practitioners desire to provide, thus perpetuating an ongoing research-to-practice deficit.
Due to their relational nature, frontline roles contribute critically to post-traumatic growth. Despite the detrimental impacts of working in the context of trauma often experienced by many professionals, practitioners manage to hold onto hope, breaking through feelings of despair, to sacrificially advocate for recovery for the children they support.
Recommendations: Efforts are needed to ensure trauma-specific training is readily accessible to frontline professionals, as continued knowledge development can increase appropriate intervention provision and effective collaborative working; government, funding bodies, and service providers should prioritise the need for trauma-informed practices across all sectors and finance accordingly; practitioner well-being can be supported through reflective spaces and clinical supervision, which can mitigate negative impact and cultivate a sense of efficacy and hopefulness.
Stefanie Pearce
Insights into school belonging in a trauma-informed school. “It’s like they just want us to be happy”
Research into the positive effects of school belonging on wellbeing and learning are widely documented in mainstream school settings. However, literature reviews indicate that school belonging research has not been explored in some specialist settings and / or with some vulnerable children and young adults (CYA) for whom a sense of belonging may be harder to achieve.
This paper explores the perspectives of CYA who attend a small trauma-informed (TI) specialist school which serves a range of children. Many have experienced adverse circumstances and trauma (developmental and relational), and many are adopted. The school offers a supportive, nurturing learning environment to help students realise their potential.
Method
A qualitative case study design collected pupil and caregiver perspectives of 14 children who are adopted, one looked after child and one special guardianship order child (aged 10-13). The data collection materials included a school belonging questionnaire and instruments to support semi-structured interviews. Ethical approval was received from the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society.
Results
Reflexive thematic analysis found an overarching notion of belonging with inter-related themes. This positive evidence regarding subjects’ sense of belonging to the school contrasts with the findings of similar studies regarding pupils in mainstream settings. Our pupils’ positive sense of school belonging is understood in terms of relationships, identity, and affirmation; as well as a distinction between fitting in vs. belonging.
Conclusion
Consideration is given to the importance of TI approaches as a potential solution in developing a sense of belonging and helping to support the most vulnerable CYA. Their wider application is recommended as a means by which a sense of belonging, with concomitant benefits, can be achieved.
Dr Carmel Conn
Learner experiences of lower sets in the Welsh context: tensions in a rights-based approach to inclusive education
Participation is seen as an important right for learners, though there is lack of evidence to understand learners’ views on classroom practice (Fairhall and Woods 2021; Merrick 2020). This includes decisions about grouping learners, for example, in terms of their prior attainment or perceived ‘ability’ (Francis et al. 2017), with consequences for inclusive education (Brennan et al. 2022). This research took place in Wales where children’s and young people’s rights are strongly promoted as an educational approach, but where there is also evidence of widespread use of attainment grouping (Hallam and Parsons 2013). Focus groups and interviews were carried out with secondary school learners in lower attaining groups (n=70), many of whom were identified as having support needs in relation to academic learning and/or well-being. Interviews were also conducted with teachers and teaching assistants (n=10). Findings suggest strong learner satisfaction with groups, but also lack of movement between groups that reinforced ability hierarchies in schools and supported the development of negative identities for some learners. There was lack of consensus amongst educators about the purpose of attainment grouping, some seeing it as a way of addressing systemic issues within the school. Findings indicate that rights conceptualised as capability for decision making does not clearly extend as a concept to other capabilities, for example, the capability to learn and to have insight into this. We argue that children’s and young people’s rights need to be more clearly articulated as concerned with educational provision and not only with participation.
Hope on the frontline: Exploring practitioner perspectives of childhood trauma recovery.
This qualitative study sought to explore practitioner perspectives of childhood trauma recovery. Utilising purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews alongside a combination of phenomenological and narrative methodologies cultivated a deeper understanding of lived experience, whilst simultaneously offering valuable insights into occurring themes of hope. A grounded approach to analysis was employed to find meaning from data collected from nine frontline practitioners, representing nine professions across England.
Frontline practitioners demonstrated a keen understanding of childhood trauma, offering valuable insights into barriers and protective factors that can hinder or contribute to trauma recovery.
The effects and implications of trauma are vast and cannot be viewed deterministically. Trauma survivors should be treated as individuals, representing complex stories, contexts, needs and outcomes. Recovery was often identified where trauma responses no longer impinged on day-to-day living, where an integrative narrative could be identified, and where a hopeful future could be reimagined.
Findings show that the current systems in place to support children and young people are unable to consistently facilitate the quality and quantity of service that practitioners desire to provide, thus perpetuating an ongoing research-to-practice deficit.
Due to their relational nature, frontline roles contribute critically to post-traumatic growth. Despite the detrimental impacts of working in the context of trauma often experienced by many professionals, practitioners manage to hold onto hope, breaking through feelings of despair, to sacrificially advocate for recovery for the children they support.
Recommendations: Efforts are needed to ensure trauma-specific training is readily accessible to frontline professionals, as continued knowledge development can increase appropriate intervention provision and effective collaborative working; government, funding bodies, and service providers should prioritise the need for trauma-informed practices across all sectors and finance accordingly; practitioner well-being can be supported through reflective spaces and clinical supervision, which can mitigate negative impact and cultivate a sense of efficacy and hopefulness.
Stefanie Pearce
Insights into school belonging in a trauma-informed school. “It’s like they just want us to be happy”
Research into the positive effects of school belonging on wellbeing and learning are widely documented in mainstream school settings. However, literature reviews indicate that school belonging research has not been explored in some specialist settings and / or with some vulnerable children and young adults (CYA) for whom a sense of belonging may be harder to achieve.
This paper explores the perspectives of CYA who attend a small trauma-informed (TI) specialist school which serves a range of children. Many have experienced adverse circumstances and trauma (developmental and relational), and many are adopted. The school offers a supportive, nurturing learning environment to help students realise their potential.
Method
A qualitative case study design collected pupil and caregiver perspectives of 14 children who are adopted, one looked after child and one special guardianship order child (aged 10-13). The data collection materials included a school belonging questionnaire and instruments to support semi-structured interviews. Ethical approval was received from the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society.
Results
Reflexive thematic analysis found an overarching notion of belonging with inter-related themes. This positive evidence regarding subjects’ sense of belonging to the school contrasts with the findings of similar studies regarding pupils in mainstream settings. Our pupils’ positive sense of school belonging is understood in terms of relationships, identity, and affirmation; as well as a distinction between fitting in vs. belonging.
Conclusion
Consideration is given to the importance of TI approaches as a potential solution in developing a sense of belonging and helping to support the most vulnerable CYA. Their wider application is recommended as a means by which a sense of belonging, with concomitant benefits, can be achieved.
Dr Carmel Conn
Learner experiences of lower sets in the Welsh context: tensions in a rights-based approach to inclusive education
Participation is seen as an important right for learners, though there is lack of evidence to understand learners’ views on classroom practice (Fairhall and Woods 2021; Merrick 2020). This includes decisions about grouping learners, for example, in terms of their prior attainment or perceived ‘ability’ (Francis et al. 2017), with consequences for inclusive education (Brennan et al. 2022). This research took place in Wales where children’s and young people’s rights are strongly promoted as an educational approach, but where there is also evidence of widespread use of attainment grouping (Hallam and Parsons 2013). Focus groups and interviews were carried out with secondary school learners in lower attaining groups (n=70), many of whom were identified as having support needs in relation to academic learning and/or well-being. Interviews were also conducted with teachers and teaching assistants (n=10). Findings suggest strong learner satisfaction with groups, but also lack of movement between groups that reinforced ability hierarchies in schools and supported the development of negative identities for some learners. There was lack of consensus amongst educators about the purpose of attainment grouping, some seeing it as a way of addressing systemic issues within the school. Findings indicate that rights conceptualised as capability for decision making does not clearly extend as a concept to other capabilities, for example, the capability to learn and to have insight into this. We argue that children’s and young people’s rights need to be more clearly articulated as concerned with educational provision and not only with participation.
