When traumatized children come to school: towards understanding teachers' lived experiences of working with students who suffer catastrophic or traumatic events
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2012
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Abstract
Classroom teachers work on an ongoing and daily basis with students who suffer traumatic events. As the student suffers, so does the teacher, albeit in different ways. Events may occur suddenly and unexpectedly, such as a shooting, terrorist attack, natural disaster, family member's accident, or a suicide. A student's experience of trauma may also present in the form of an ongoing process such as a medical disease, illness or abuse. For the teacher, this experience is typically unexpected, it usually happens with no specialized preparation, and it plays out in the context of a physical environment that simultaneously includes twenty to thirty other students. It is quite unlike the experience of a therapist, counselor, nurse or doctor who has individualized and uninterrupted extensive blocks of time with a traumatized child, has specialized expertise in the specific trauma area, is fully expecting and is prepared to address emotional needs of the child, and understands self-care issues that support personal coping. The most direct impact for a teacher occurs through relationship in the context of teaching and learning, where pedagogical responses, decisions and acts are continuously lived. This hermeneutic study explores complexities and tensions inherent in this lived teacher experience. Probing occurs through conversations with eight teachers about their experience with a traumatized student, as well as an experience of my own. A specific focus is on what is opened up through a teacher's suffering, and impact and implications for teaching practice. Touchstone theorists that guide the epistemological orientation of this study are Hans-Georg Gadamer in terms of a search for understanding, and Paul Ricoeur in terms of understanding the notion of story. The interpretive nature of this study permeates throughout the dissertation, with elements of teachers' stories presented in Chapters Three, Five and Six. This work hopes to open up and heighten an awareness of the complexities and significance of this experience. It is also hoped that others will be enticed to move into further exploration in continuing, ongoing, and generative ways.
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Bibliography: p. 215-231
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Sherley, D. E. (2012). When traumatized children come to school: towards understanding teachers' lived experiences of working with students who suffer catastrophic or traumatic events (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4981