Traumatization of Youth and Adolescents in the Classroom: Preparing Novice Teachers to Address the Academic and Social-Emotional Needs of Students Affected by Trauma

While educational systems and communities have advanced in accommodating individuals with physical, cognitive and emotional challenges, teacher training is still underdeveloped in support for a growing population of youth that experiences adolescent trauma. In the United States, 26% of children will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four, and 60% of adults report experiencing abuse or other difficult family circumstances during childhood (National Center for Mental Health, 2012). As defined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2012), trauma “results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening, and that has lasting, adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being.” The traumatic experiences of abuse and/or neglect impact normal development by increasing the risk for emotional, behavioral, academic, social and physical problems (Cook et al., 2005). Traumatic childhood experiences result and are manifested to self-harming behavior, dating violence, delinquency and perpetration of violence, low educational attainment, homelessness, early parenting, working poverty, unemployment dependence on public assistance, relationship difficulties and limited access to reliable transportation (West, Day, Somers & Baroni, 2014). More and more children come into classrooms with physical, mental and emotional needs that exceeded the standard for educational training (ASCD, 2017), and there is limited research existing regarding the inclusion of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) practices in pre-service teachers’ programs (Overstreet & Chafouleas, 2016); therefore, this study aims to add to the nascent literature for university teacher education reform effort