There has been much focus recently on the impact of trauma on young people, particularly considering the COVID-19 pandemic (WHO, 2020). Yet, even prior to this, childhood trauma was recognised as a global health epidemic (DoH/DfE, 2017). Trauma is thought to result from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – a term used to describe a range of stressful events (e.g., exposure to abuse, neglect, poverty, racism or domestic/community violence) that children and young people up to the age of 18 years have been exposed to (Felitti et al., 1998). An individual’s response to these ACEs determines whether they are considered traumatic or not, though where trauma is experienced the impacts of such events can have lasting, negative effects (SAMHSA, 2014). Indeed trauma, defined in various ways, occurs when an individual is exposed to an experience that engulfs both the internal and external coping resources available to them, creating a sense of extreme threat that has a detrimental effect on their functioning and wellbeing (SAMHSA, 2014). Fundamentally, trauma is understood to be an overwhelming experience that undermines a person’s belief in the world as a good and safe place (Downey, 2007).

It has been noted that the impacts of trauma can often ‘play out’ in young people’s behaviour within various social contexts, including within the field of school (e.g., via disengagement, disruption, conflict with others). However, such behaviours can often be misinterpreted as wilful disobedience if teachers are unaware of the reasons underlying potentially challenging presentations. As such, we have suggested previously that there is a need for practitioners to be ‘trauma-aware’ (Quarmby et al., 2021). Indeed, we argue that understanding the impact of trauma, and the responses it might evoke, is beneficial for teachers working with/for young people, especially in contexts like physical education (PE) where participation is public, where actions and interactions are less bounded by structured spaces, and where the body plays a central role in practice. Indeed, in many respects, PE occupies a somewhat unique position within the school curriculum – in relation to the subject matter it covers, the environments in which learning takes place and the nature of interactions that occur within these environments (Ciotto & Gagnon, 2018) – rendering it a valuable site for positive development. Thus, we suggest that supporting practitioners to have a trauma-aware lens in this context can facilitate an appreciation of why some individuals have difficulties with learning, building relationships and managing behaviour and enable reflection around how best to support young people through effective pedagogical practice. However, it is also acknowledged that working with trauma-affected youth can be a challenging and, at times, emotionally demanding process for teachers (Miller & Flint-Stipp, 2019) and there is therefore a need to also consider the implications for practitioner well-being alongside the broader notion of trauma-aware pedagogies.

As noted, we have previously argued that it is important to highlight the pedagogical implications of trauma within the PE context and consider how practitioners might best support young people who have been affected by it. Within this paper, we look to build on these previous discussions concerning the need for trauma-aware pedagogies in PE and consider the challenges and implications of enacting such pedagogies from a practitioner perspective. In seeking to do this, we draw on a recent research project undertaken with pre-service PE teachers which sought to: i) explore understandings of trauma and how it might manifest within the subject; ii) gauge pre-service teachers’ perspectives on the trauma-aware principles proposed by Quarmby et al. (2021); and iii) co-construct activities that would facilitate the enactment of trauma-aware pedagogies in PE contexts.

This paper draws from recent research undertaken with pre-service teachers who engaged in a series of participatory workshops centred on enacting trauma-aware pedagogies within PE. The interactive workshops were developed from our previous work with care-experienced young people (see Sandford et al., 2021; Quarmby et al., 2020) and were delivered online (via Microsoft Teams) between May and August 2021 in two parts, each 2 hours in duration. The first session sought to: i) provide a background to key concepts (e.g., ACEs, trauma and toxic stress); ii) consider how trauma may manifest in PE and outline the relevance of the subject as a context in which to support development; and iii) introduce our principles for trauma-aware pedagogies. The second session (conducted one week after the first) then sought to: i) examine the conceptual relevance of the principles; ii) consider how the principles might be enacted in the participants’ own contexts; and iii) explore the concept of teacher wellbeing and self-care within trauma-aware practice. In each session, a combination of academic content delivery, individual tasks and group reflections facilitated the collection of a rich body of data in the form of speech, text and visual materials (e.g., GIFS, drawings). Workshop participants were recruited via personal networks, university PETE programmes and social media (e.g., Twitter). In total, 22 pre-service teachers participated across the 3 sets of workshops. The majority were pre-service teachers from England and Scotland, though 1 participant was from Australia. Each participant was also invited to complete a short online pre- and post-workshop survey to ascertain their initial thoughts (pre-survey) and their reflections on the content delivered (post-survey). Each workshop was also recorded, with transcripts made of the conversations. All data generated through the workshops were collated and are in the process of being analysed thematically to identify key findings and points of interest relating to the aims of the project and broader academic debates (see Braun & Clarke, 2006). All research activities received full ethical approval from the authors’ institutions ahead of any data collection.

Within this discussion we seek to extend burgeoning conversations within the field that emphasise the need for trauma-informed approaches in PE (e.g., Ellison et al., 2019). We do so by drawing upon data from a series of recent participatory workshops with pre-service PE teachers, where they explored the relevance of our proposed principles for trauma-aware pedagogies (Quarmby et al., 2021) and considered the challenges and implications of enacting these within their own contexts. Although data are still undergoing analysis, a preliminary examination indicates that there is much support among participants for the relevance of the trauma-aware principles for PE, with participants highlighting their potential as a reflexive tool within practice. It is notable that all pre-service teachers could already identify engagements with trauma-affected youth in their contexts, though there were varied levels of perceived 'readiness' to work with them and there was a general desire to be better informed in this respect. Importantly, collective conversations within the workshops facilitated the sharing of examples of ‘good practice’ and the co-construction of approaches to enacting the principles in PE contexts – hinting at the value of shared dialogue between practitioners for the development of trauma-aware practices. However, the data also highlight concerns among some pre-service teachers regarding their capacity to ‘do the right thing’ by their students, as well as the emotional burden that is often felt when working with young people who have experienced trauma. As such, in discussing our findings we propose that while enacting trauma-aware pedagogies can be beneficial for (all) students, we must also be cognisant of the impact on practitioners – particularly those new to the profession. Indeed, if educators are increasingly expected to work with/support trauma-affected youth, there is a real need to recognise the significance of teacher self-care within trauma-aware practice and to support practitioner wellbeing.

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