Similarly, Dr. Shawn Ginwright's article discussing the unintended effects of trauma-informed education is also steeped in a very social-work informed background. "The term “trauma informed care” didn’t encompass the totality of his experience and focused only on his harm, injury and trauma." This sentence perfectly encapsulates the potential negative outcome of a methodology intended to support and promote resiliency but instead reduces an individual to their trauma. Ginwright points out the value of a more holistic approach to working with students who have experienced trauma at both an individual and collective level, stating the importance of the healing centered approach. The example questions of "What's happened to you?" vs "What's right with you?" could easily be questions that any social worker with a focus on healing could (and probably would) use with a client. Healing centered engagement is inherently political, much like education and social work. Healing, like many aspects of social work, highlights the intersectional nature of identity and offers an opportunity at collective healing, embracing race, class, gender, culture, age, etc., whereas trauma-informed education is focused primarily on the individual.
The two previous articles complimented each other very well, and provide a good background to the final article, Community as Text: Using the Community as a Resource for Learning in Community Schools (Blank, Johnson, Shah, 2003). This article again recalls the grand concepts of Grace Boggs for schools to be inextricably tied to the communities in which they are based, and provides several methods to successfully integrate community learning into the school curriculum, while engaging culturally diverse groups of students. The success of the students in these community schools is in part due to the engagement of teachers who were culturally responsive to their students. Likewise, the community schools offered complement of health and social services for the students, providing holistic student support as opposed to only offering academic services. And as with the healing centered appoach, the collective engagement between educators, families, and students fostered a true sense of collaboration and community.
Works Cited
Ginwright, S. (2018). The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@ginwright/the-future-of-healing-shifting-from-trauma-informed-care-to-healing-centered-engagement-634f557ce69c
Blank, M. J., Johnson, S. D., & Shah, B. P. (2003). Community as text: Using the community as a resource for learning in community schools. New Directions For Youth Development, 97,107-120.
Including the National Association of Social Worker's Code of Ethics in your response reminded me of a thought I have had several times during this week's readings, but also through the semester - and just my journey teaching as well. I do wish that teachers were required to take more social work, sociology and psychology courses! I think that the teaching profession is really changing - good teachers have always been willing to get to know and understand their students - but in the last 30 or so years I think there has been a big shift in the idea that it is the expectation that teachers relate to their students and also is becoming problematic when they can't (in larger numbers and in more areas due to the changes in the population and demographics of American states/cities etc... and general disillusionment post Vietnam War - dare I say it). You still hear teachers say "that is not my job", and we may get upset with them - but they are right! The job description, the contract, I am obligated to know and teach my content along with other managerial duties. I think that better preparation for teachers to acknowledge that understanding their students is a fundamental piece of teaching their content effectively, and giving them more support and resources to do so is a very important next step for colleges and universities.
ReplyDelete"I do wish that teachers were required to take more social work, sociology and psychology courses!"
DeleteLisa, I agree with you. As someone who has come to the discipline of education after studying history for so long, I think it's vital for teachers education to include more humanities and social science focused coursework to broaden the cultural knowledge of teachers to be. Likewise, currently having the experience to work with social workers, I strongly value how they approach clients and think that there are many courses within that discipline that would also be beneficial for education students! And what you mention about the job desciption, I totally understand. Teachers shouldn't be expected to perform roles from an entirely different field, but clearly it's important for teachers to understand that students are not decontextualized from their environment once they walk through the school doors. The more educators and administrators understand that, the better of their students will be.
As a society we place so much emphasis on the success of the individual, without even considering the implications for society as a whole. When a student experiences trauma, they quite often think they are the only one dealing with that sort of issue. Healing-centered practices don't just get rid of problems, they help people rebuild from the ashes of their trauma. A collective healing approach is so important here to remind students that they are not alone, and that they can take what they have learned from their experiences and go forth to make the world a better place. It is an empowering message and one that we need to see more of in schools. I'm inspired to put your Desmond Tutu quote somewhere in my classroom!
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