National Guidelines for Trauma-Aware Education

These National Guidelines for Trauma-Aware Schooling have been developed at a critical time for education in Australia via a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Childhood Foundation.  They have been developed in response to a rapidly growing (national and international) awareness regarding the impact of complex trauma on education and life outcomes for children and young people, and a keen desire by educators to do something to address this!

The rapidly growing body of research that has informed the development of the National Guidelines for Trauma-Aware Education:

• draws from a combination of the science of child and adolescent development, the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences, the longer-term biomedical and intergenerational consequences of complex trauma, and developmental resilience.
• has been revolutionising practice in many areas (including health and mental health, social services, youth services and youth justice) and is now having a growing impact within early childhood education and schooling.

The National Guidelines for Trauma-Aware Education draw from common elements within growing national and international evidence to provide best practice guidance at both the site level and the education system level.

• Guidance is provided at the site level to help schools and early childhood services identify elements that will support the development of effective trauma-aware approaches for the children, young people and/or educators attending the site.
• Guidance is provided at the system level to help education systems identify elements that will help education sites implement trauma-aware approaches.