Graduate Certificate of Education (Trauma-Responsive Education)

Childhood trauma is a prevalent problem. In Australia, four out of ten students have been exposed to traumatic events. Young people who face traumatic events when they are still developing emotionally and mentally may suffer lasting damage. Children and adolescents with adverse experiences such as abuse, violence, displacement, and neglect can find it difficult to make friends, concentrate in classrooms, and respond to fast-paced changes. Left unaddressed, trauma may push children to social disengagement and school failure.

Guided by social justice and practice architecture theory, the Graduate Certificate of Education (Trauma-Responsive Education) (TRE) provides participants with the skills and understandings necessary to create safe and trusting learning environments for all students, including those impacted by trauma. Educators are often the first responders to children with traumatic experiences and, with the relevant knowledge and skills, they can play critical roles in creating a safe and supportive learning environment. With deep understandings of events, experiences, and effects of trauma, educators will respond effectively to the specific needs and conditions of trauma-impacted children and adolescents. This course offers theoretical insights and practical strategies that enable participants to design and enact trauma-responsive care and learning experiences.
The course consists of four units:

1. Trauma and Trauma-Responsive Practices. This unit Offers multidisciplinary accounts events, experiences, and effects of trauma; and presents strategies for recognising and responding to needs and conditions of traumatised children as well as individuals exposed to secondary trauma.
2. Trauma and Learning. This unit focuses on how traumatic experiences of violence, displacement, neglect, and abuse affect the learning experiences and attainment of children.
3. Refugee Trauma and Education. This unit closely examines the effects of forced displacement and its implications for educational provisions and engagement.
4. Trauma Responsive Educational Practice Inquiry. This unit prepares participants to investigate what trauma-responsive practices look like, what assumptions and values underpin the practices, and what needs to change and why.

In each of these units, the assessment tasks are designed for participants to demonstrate their learning through critical appraisal of policies, practices, and scholarly sources, with a focus on application to real-world contexts.