Internationally, there is growing recognition of the impact of trauma on children and young people’s education and broader life outcomes (Howard 2021). In fact, trauma is now recognised as a significant issue, impacting individual health and wellbeing on a global scale (UNESCO 2019). Moreover, no social or cultural group is immune from the impact of trauma; it impacts all communities regardless of demographics (Felitti et al. 1998). Most childhood trauma stems from complex trauma which involves repeated or ongoing interpersonal threats (Courtois and Ford, 2009), with children and young people who experience such trauma being at greater risk of observable changes in brain architecture and delays in social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development (Howard 2021). As a result of trauma, children and young people are more likely to have a lower threshold for high intensity emotion, which can cause them to become hypo-aroused (dissociated, withdrawn, or shut down) or hyper-aroused (distraught, panicked, or enraged) – referred to as a narrow window of tolerance (Siegel 1999). Importantly, both states of hypo- and hyper-arousal interfere with children’s ability to regulate emotions and reduce their capacity to concentrate, process information and store knowledge (Brunzell et al. 2016).

In physical education (PE) – a space where the effects of trauma may be exacerbated due to the public nature of participation and the centrality of the body (Quarmby et al., 2022) – trauma may manifest in a range of different actions/behaviours (e.g., small fouls escalating into physical conflict, students refusing to participate with peers, and individuals struggling to adhere to collective rules or principles). Importantly, students’ responses to trauma can vary and, while some outward reactions may cause problems, it is important to remember that they start out as functional attempts to manage and survive in harsh or terrifying environments (O’Toole 2022). Despite this, their (re)actions often prompt others to view them as being ‘off task’ or defiant (Ellison et al. 2020). Hence, without knowledge of the effects of trauma, teachers (at a micro level) often defer to punitive responses, which can lead to and/or include suspensions and exclusions (at a macro/school level). This can exacerbate rather than mediate the needs of trauma-affected youth. As such, there are growing international calls for teachers to become trauma-aware and recognise that patterns of distress and troubling behaviour will likely emerge as a student’s way of surviving threats and adversities (O’Toole 2022).

Schools are crucially positioned to support the needs of children and young people who have experienced trauma (UNESCO 2019) and the subject of PE – through the type of relational encounters that it affords – even more so. Indeed, previous research has explored the ways in which PE teachers attempt to support, for example, pupils’ social and emotional needs, build positive relationships, and develop pro-social behaviours (e.g., Hellison, 2011; Hemphill et al., 2021; Wright et al., 2007). Building on this work, scholars have recently focused their attention on the need for trauma-informed approaches in PE (e.g., Ellison et al. 2020). Given this recent focus, it is critical that prospective physical educators, too, both understand the impact of trauma on children and young people’s growth and development and are prepared to enact trauma-aware practices to support them (Brown et al., 2022). The purpose of this presentation is to report on a novel paper that sought to work with pre-service PE teachers to reflect on the principles underpinning trauma-aware pedagogies (see Quarmby et al., 2022) and, from this, to co-create tangible strategies that could be employed by future and current PE teachers to better support all students, but especially those who have experienced trauma.

To do this, we worked with three distinct groups of pre-service PE teachers (n=22) from a range of different institutions, delivering a total of 12 hours of online workshops (2 x 2-hour sessions per group). At the time of the workshops, the Covid-19 pandemic had led to significant lockdown measures within the UK (as elsewhere), which necessitated that all sessions were delivered online as opposed to in-person. The workshops – delivered between May and August 2021 – were designed to support pre-service PE teachers in becoming trauma-aware and were grounded in the principles of trauma-aware pedagogies, namely: (1) ensuring safety and wellbeing, (2) establishing routines and structures, (3) developing and sustaining positive relationships that foster a sense of belonging, (4) facilitating and responding to youth voice and, (5) promoting strengths and self-belief (Quarmby et al., 2022). In workshop one, pre-service PE teachers explored their understanding of trauma, its impacts on young people and how it might manifest in PE. We employed a range of individual activities and group tasks, that enabled them to identify and reflect on what they already knew about trauma and how it shapes pupils’ engagement with school, as well as within PE. In workshop two (undertaken at least one week after the first workshop) pre-service teachers were supported to critically reflect on their learning from the first workshop, their own practice, and the five principles of trauma-aware pedagogies (Quarmby et al., 2022). They were then invited to discuss, in conversation with us (as workshop leaders) and with each other, their reflections on how these principles could be enacted in practice during various ‘PE moments’ (e.g., transitions into PE, getting changed, setting up kit, responding to incidents, interacting with students). The conversation/dialogue generated by activities in each of the workshops was recorded using the Microsoft Teams record function, and subsequently converted into an audio file for transcription. In addition, text from the Microsoft Teams ‘chat’ function was transferred to a Microsoft Word file, along with screenshots of Padlets which were used as part of interactive tasks to record the thoughts and ideas of participants (via both text and visual images). All audio file transcripts, and copies of the ‘chats’ were made anonymous to protect the identity of the participants. The resulting data were then analysed using an inductive and deductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

The workshops led to the co-creation of a host of tangible strategies – things that could be done to enact trauma-aware pedagogies in PE – that could be used by both future and current PE practitioners. While the strategies will be discussed in relation to specific principles of trauma-aware pedagogy, we are not suggesting that these are in any way rigid categorisations. Rather, strategies are associated with specific principles to reflect how these were framed by pre-service teachers during the workshops. Each of the individual strategies will be presented in relation to the relevant principle. For instance, strategies associated with the principle of ‘establishing routines and structures’ include: (1) being predictable, (2) ensuring consistent transitions within and between PE lessons, and (3) forewarning of changes. Through collectively considering the principles and providing pre-service teachers with the space to reflect and discuss, we have been able to co-create these strategies with them, offering an original contribution to work around PE pedagogies. Indeed, the novel approach we adopted here enables practitioners’ (emerging) expertise to be recognised and shared. Moreover, we argue that these strategies are reflective of ‘good pedagogy’ more broadly – and would benefit all students – but especially those who have been impacted by trauma. However, in enacting any strategies, there remains a need for practitioners to keep in mind the specific context of their school, the students, and broader cultures, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Hence, we are not suggesting that teachers should aim to enact all of the strategies presented, rather that they could draw on certain strategies to support students in PE, depending on the context they find themselves in.

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