This workshop focuses on the need for a trauma-aware teaching orientation, drawing on clinical trauma studies and acknowledging the societal prevalence of trauma, particularly gendered and racial trauma and the challenges of recognizing the prevalence of students’ direct or indirect traumatic experiences. The session, facilitated by teachers and members of the Sydney Safer Communities team, will discuss considerations of and approaches to teaching potentially distressing content and supporting traumatised students. In particular, the panel will consider the importance of academic freedom and strategies that enhance classroom safety, from the most readily achievable, such as content disclaimers, to the most comprehensive and ambitious. As citizens of their lifelong learning journey and a broader sociopolitical community, participants are encouraged to apply trauma-aware tenets to their teaching practice and advance toward a culturally-responsive framework that can be incorporated into the curriculum.
Teaching@Sydney