ASSIGNMENT 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 3

School Contexts............................................................................................................. 3

Define and Contextualise the Issue................................................................................ 4

Impact on Wellbeing and Learning Engagement.......................................................... 6

Policy and Catholic Social Teaching Alignment........................................................... 8

Summary of Evidence-Based Recommendations.......................................................... 9

Conclusion................................................................................................................... 10

References.................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction

There is a significant impact of the trauma and family-related issues such as parental neglect, domestic conflict and abuse, economic hardship, and instability due to migration. It mainly impacts the emotional development of children and their capacity to be involved in the learning process. Due to these adverse experiences, several issues like behavioural challenges, emotional dysregulation, and reduced concentration are being faced by the students which hinders their emotional and cognitive growth. My teaching experience is across the three diverse school settings in Hyderabad, which includes the Gowtham Model School, Neo Rosary School, and Scholars Academy. In these schools, I have observed how the behaviours of the students are being impacted by trauma and family-related stress. This leads to social withdrawal, persistent distraction, and non-compliance. A psychological distress is being displayed by the students who come from the unstable home environments and conflict-affected regions.

There are great significance of these issues as without having emotional well-being academic success cannot be achieved by the students. The burden of unresolved trauma and insatiable home environments often leads the students to feel unsafe and unmotivated in the classroom setting. Hence, it is the necessity to address certain traumas of the children, not only to provide care, but also to ensure justice and equity. A balance between the academic outcomes and holistic student support must be done so that long-term involvement of the students in the learning process can be ensured.

School Contexts

There are some valuable insights that have been provided by my teaching experience across three mainstream schools in Hyderabad regarding the impact of trauma and family instability on the engagement and emotional well-being of the students. At Gowtham Model School, where there were students from Kindergarten to Grade 10, the emphasis has been mainly on rote learning and academic performance. The environment of the school was commercialized and focus was on achieving high grades for the students at any cost so that satisfaction can be provided to the parents. Emphasis was not being provided to the emotional well-being of the students and the certain behavioural challenges of the students was not addressed. This leads to defiance, frequent distractions and lack of motivation for the students during the class. Majority of these behavioural issues among the students comes due to the instability in the home environments and family-related traumas and these were not being addressed.

The signs of emotional distress and trauma was in the behaviors of these students which can be the results due to emotional disruption and anxiety. The conduction of weekly staff meetings were also done collaboratively in which the classroom issues were discussions and strategies were developed for managing the behaviour of the students by which the role of emotional regulation on academic success has been recognized.

My working was mainly with the students from Grade 4 to 6. Though the school was commercialized, it also provided some attention to the emotional requirements of the students. But still, the students in the school displayed signs of emotional instability and anxiety. This is mainly due to the traumas and instability in the family and home environments. Hence, from the school context and behavioural issues of the students, it is evident that there is an adverse impact of the unstable home environments and family related traumas on the emotional well-being of the students which also affects their academic learning process.

Define and Contextualise the Issue

Childhood trauma is related to the adverse experiences by which lifetime emotional distress can occur along with disruption of the psychological, social, and emotional development. There can be many aspects and forms of these traumas which includes parental neglect, physical or emotional abuse, parental mental illness, family violence, or instability such as the absence of any caregiver for the children. There is a prolonged impact of these issues, if they could not be addressed in the proper time and can leave a lifetime trauma on the mind of the children.

According to Van der Kolk (2014), trauma can be considered as an internal response by which provocations are being done rather than just being an event. A trauma can leave a permanent impact on the mind of a child, where survival becomes the main priority over learning for the children. As a consequence, the key areas of development such as attention, emotional regulation, and memories are being disrupted. It can also have an impact on the attachment patterns which affect the children in developing trust with another person or form any stable relationships which are important for academic success.

As per the statement by Song, (2024), there are also significant cognitive impacts of trauma on the children which is concerning, especially in the context of education or learning process. There may be some serious struggles faced by the children regarding executive functioning, problem-solving, and concentration by which there is a great chance of having poor performance in the academics. It also has major emotional impact such as depression, anxiety, numbness, or behavioural challenges by which children may exhibit aggression, withdrawal, or hyperactivity at a very early age. A misunderstanding can be there for the educators due to these activities of the children which lead to not addressing these challenges of the children.

There is a widespread impact of the trauma and a survey conducted by the Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing has reported that for the age group of 4-17 years, one out of each seven children experiences mental health disorder. According to Nath et al. (2021), there are many children in India who experience domestic violence or parental neglect in their home, especially in socio-economically challenged families. I have also experienced this in the classrooms of the suburban schools and observed that most of the students who come from the lower-middle class families often experience poverty, family conflict, or forced migration, which provides them a lifetime of trauma.

The study of Spence et al. (2021) illustrates that despite carrying the burden of family related issues and trauma, most of the schools lack the resources and frameworks by which these issues among the children can be identified and they can be addressed. There is a significant requirement of trauma-informed approaches by which these behavioural issues of the children can be understood and proper response can be provided to them for addressing these issues. Hence, it is very important to identify, acknowledge, and address these childhood traumas by which a safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environment for the children can be created and fostered in the school.

Impact on Wellbeing and Learning Engagement

According to Little & Maunder, (2021), trauma has a widespread impact on the various aspects of a child such as cognitive development, mental health, and behavioural activities which are very important for a child to succeed in their educational setting. On facing the persistent stresses like parental neglect, family violence, displacement, a certain psychological and emotional dysregulation are being experienced by the children. This impacts their classroom learning process and hampers the learning in the educational setting and hinder their academic journey.

From the perspective of mental health as stated by Al Jowf et al. (2022), it has some major impact as it enhances the risks of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among the children. As per the reports of Mission Australia Youth Survey (2021), approximately 38% of the youths from the age group of 15–19 are being affected by the mental health disorders with anxiety and stress as the main contributors. Often, these mental health disorders are not being identified and addressed in the educational settings, as the main priority of them is to achieve academic excellence rather than psychological well-being. In the Gowtham Model School, there are observations made by me regarding the several students who were emotionally distressed or emotionally disengaged. A chronic anxiety has been displayed by one of the students whose parents were undergoing a divorce process. These are the issues due to which the children cannot concentrate on their studies and their academic learning can be impacted significantly by this.

As opined by Wang & Li, (2025), trauma also has a cognitive impact on the children as there are certain regions of the brain which are responsible for memory, attention, and executive functioning. Children who are experiencing trauma due to family issues mainly live in the survival mode rather than in the learning process and it also operates from their brainstem, rather than prefrontal cortex. Due to this, it is very difficult for the students who are experiencing trauma to concentrate on their studies, manage complex tasks, or memorize the information. It has been observed that the students who come from the conflict oriented regions, mainly have some mental disorder and the simple classroom instructions are often forgotten by them. A proper emotional support tailored to the individual needs of the students need to be provided by which addressing of these issues can be done.

Trauma also has behavioural impact on the children and some of the behaviours like hyperactivity, aggression, or defiance are being shown by them when they go through the emotional distresses. Moreover, as stated by Zarra-Nezhad et al. (2022), some of the children may also exhibit behavioural issues like passivity and withdrawal due to which the relationships with the peers are being affected significantly. Children who are going through family issues like conflicts or separation between the parents can be aggressive at some times. It is required to provide proper support from the peers and educators with enough emotional regulation so that they can cope up with these situations.

As per the Black Dog Institute and Module 3 materials, mental disorder is being faced by one in every five children each year globally, where trauma plays a major role. There is a requirement of tailored and targeted intervention without which the children are at a higher risk for academic failure, absenteeism, or long-term mental health issues. But in reality, most of the schools do not address these issues, mainly due to having limited educational resources or lack of mental health frameworks. Often, marginalization of the students is being done rather than providing them proper support which makes the situation worse for the children.

Overall, there are severe and multifaceted impacts of trauma on the engagement of the children in the learning process and their academic and emotional well-being. Along with impacting the behaviour and thinking of the children, it also impacts their emotional and cognitive development and their ability to succeed in life. Trauma can also be recognized as a major barrier in the learning process and some appropriate strategies need to be developed so that identified issues and traumas can be addressed. It will help the educators to create a supportive and inclusive environment where all students can express themselves and present their issues irrespective of their cultural background and the fear of being judged.

Policy and Catholic Social Teaching Alignment

As per the statement of Kerbage et al. (2024), there is a close alignment of addressing trauma and family-related stress in the school settings with both the international and national educational policies. Moreover, this also links with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The importance of emotional well-being of the students and inclusive and supportive learning environment has been emphasized by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in India. The requirement of socio-emotional learning and training of educators regarding mental health awareness has also been the main focus of it. By doing this, a shift from the rote learning to the holistic development can be done by which the issues of the traumatized learned can be addressed to some extent.

The importance of wellbeing for the pepper engagement of the students in the educational process has also been recognized internationally by the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. Moreover, it also provides focus on the equitable and inclusive by which the cultural diversity can be maintained and individual learning needs of the students can be met. The different standards of Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) provides emphasis on understanding the learning needs of the students and providing proper response to them so that the queries of the students from diverse cultural backgrounds including the trauma affected students can also be resolved.

A reinforcement of these policies through principles such as Human Dignity are being done by the Catholic Social Teaching by which the intrinsic worth of every child is being affirmed. The well-being of the students can be enhanced significantly by nurturing inclusive and safe spaces as stated by the Common Good and Solidarity urge schools. Hence, it is the responsibility of the learning professionals to provide adequate support to the traumatized and vulnerable students so that they can be back in the normal flow of life and their emotional and cognitive development can be done properly (L’Estrange & Howard, 2022).

Summary of Evidence-Based Recommendations

According to Abrahamson, (2024), adaptation of a trauma-informed and whole-school approach needs to be done by the schools so that the students who are affected by the trauma and family-related issues can be supported and their mental well-being can be fostered. This includes creating an inclusive and safe learning environment in which students can feel safe to express themselves. Moreover, proper training needs to be provided to the staff regarding the trauma-informed response to the students and integrating emotional regulation into the regular classroom practice. There is several evidence from the module 4 materials which highlights that a greater resilience and engagement among the traumatized learners are being fostered by the schools having trauma-informed practices in it.

There are several strategies that has been highlighted by the Victorian Department of Education’s High Impact Wellbeing Framework (Module 4) which offers practical approaches to trauma-informed care. The students can be felt understood and valued by developing proper relationships with them. By promoting belonging and inclusion, it can be ensured that students from all cultural backgrounds are being felt respected and valued (Eden, Chisom, & Adeniyi, 2024). It is also very important to provide mental health services by which students can be helped with the professional mental support for their emotional well-being.

Moreover, involvement of the families in the learning process is also very important by which collaborative planning can be done for addressing the trauma and mental health issues of the students. This also helps to promote a positive environment within the families and parents which will also help the students in their healing process. The use of “small data” such as behaviour logs and pastoral care notes can also be done by which early detection of the patterns of the mental health issue can be done and an accurate responsive intervention can be provided. Hence, with the combination of all these strategies, a compassionate, safe, and inclusive learning environment can be created where proper learning and development of all the children can be done.

Conclusion

Conclusively, it can be said that there is a significant impact of the trauma and family-related issues on the well-being and learning of the students. This impacts the concentration, mental health, and overall engagement of the students. On not addressing these issues, students are left unsupported which results in long-term trauma and academic consequences. There is a crucial role of the educators in recognizing the early signs of the trauma and fostering an inclusive and safe learning environment in which the well-being of the students are being prioritised and students can feel safe to express themselves irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. As per my teaching context, most of the schools provide emphasis on the academic success of the students rather than focusing on their emotional wellbeing and holistic development. Hence, schools must incorporate trauma-informed approaches in their curriculum and also need to provide training to the educators to offer mental health interventions to those who are required. This will foster equitable learning and emotional resilience by which ability of the students to learn and grow will be enhanced effectively.

References

Abrahamson, R. J. (2024). The Benefits of Trauma Informed Teaching Strategies and Interventions for Students. https://spark.bethel.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2054&context=etd

Al Jowf, G. I., Ahmed, Z. T., An, N., Reijnders, R. A., Ambrosino, E., Rutten, B. P., ... & Eijssen, L. M. (2022). A public health perspective of post-traumatic stress disorder. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(11), 6474. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6474

Eden, C. A., Chisom, O. N., & Adeniyi, I. S. (2024). Cultural competence in education: strategies for fostering inclusivity and diversity awareness. International Journal of Applied Research in Social Sciences, 6(3), 383-392. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chima-Eden/publication/379042636_CULTURAL_COMPETENCE_IN_EDUCATION_STRATEGIES_FOR_FOSTERING_INCLUSIVITY_AND_DIVERSITY_AWARENESS/links/66db6d072390e50b2c700b6f/CULTURAL-COMPETENCE-IN-EDUCATION-STRATEGIES-FOR-FOSTERING-INCLUSIVITY-AND-DIVERSITY-AWARENESS.pdf

Kerbage, H., Elbejjani, M., Bazzi, O., El-Hage, W., BouKhalil, R., Corruble, E., & Purper-Ouakil, D. (2024). ‘We are all children of war’: a qualitative inquiry into parenting following adolescents’ recent traumatic exposure in a multiple crisis setting in Beirut, Lebanon. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1), 2382650. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20008066.2024.2382650

L’Estrange, L., & Howard, J. (2022, August). Trauma-informed initial teacher education training: A necessary step in a system-wide response to addressing childhood trauma. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 7, p. 929582). Frontiers Media SA. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.929582/pdf

Little, S., & Maunder, R. (2021). Why we should train teachers on the impact of childhood trauma on classroom behaviour. Educational and Child Psychology, 38(1), 54-61. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/14243/1/Little_Stephanie_Maunder_Rachel_2020_Why_we_should_train_teachers_on_the_impact_of_childhood_trauma_on_classroom_behaviour.pdf

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Song, H. (2024). Neuropsychological Perspectives on the Impact of Early Childhood Trauma on Cognitive Development. Journal of Social Science Humanities and Literature, 7(6), 46-50. https://adwenpub.com/index.php/jsshl/article/download/461/454

Spence, R., Kagan, L., Kljakovic, M., & Bifulco, A. (2021). Understanding trauma in children and young people in the school setting. Educational and Child Psychology, 38(1), 87-98. https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/download/ddce51678ac62576ca0a3cfef25ac80c88be72f8dc1d54e150cbb695f1a799b6/289689/TCH%2023.9.20.pdf

Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York, 3. https://www.thepermanentejournal.org/doi/pdf/10.7812/TPP/14-211?download=true

Wang, X., & Li, H. (2025). Effects of Different Traditional Chinese Mind–Body Exercises on Learning Abilities, Executive Functions, and Brain Connectivity in Children with Learning Difficulties. Behavioral Sciences, 15(3), 303. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/3/303

Zarra-Nezhad, M., Viljaranta, J., Sajaniemi, N., Aunola, K., & Lerkkanen, M. K. (2022). The impact of children’s socioemotional development on parenting styles: the moderating effect of social withdrawal. Early Child Development and Care, 192(7), 1032-1044. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03004430.2020.1835879