Trauma-informed instructional strategies: enhancing learning for all students

Instructional strategies grounded in both trauma-informed education and the science of learning are supported by interdisciplinary evidence. Trauma-informed education is responsive to the impacts of adversity and trauma on cognitive development, while the science of learning offers strategies to enhance attention and memory in the classroom. When integrated, these frameworks provide educators with powerful instructional strategies to create inclusive, strengths-based environments that support both wellbeing and academic achievement. The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) brings these two evidence-informed approaches together through our upcoming Trauma-informed Instructional Practices Masterclass. Enrolments now open!

Developmental trauma can impact executive functioning, working memory, and self-regulation. For instance, students impacted by trauma may struggle with concentration, impulsivity, and persistence in learning, especially when faced with academic challenges (Brunzell & Norrish, 2021).

One helpful concept in understanding trauma’s effect on learning is neuroception, which refers to the ability to detect and discern between safety and threat in an environment (Porges, 2004). When this system is disrupted, students may be hypervigilant to perceived threats, leading to heightened stress responses at school.

This understanding has direct implications for how students respond to learning tasks that are intentionally challenging, a concept known as desirable difficulty (Ruiz Martín, 2024). While desirable difficulty can enhance learning, students with trauma histories may perceive these challenges as threatening, causing them to enact avoidant behaviours at school.

BSEM outlines five core principles of trauma-informed instructional practice that can be embedded into classrooms to support students:

Regulate & Relate

Establish relational safety and regulate the learning environment through consistent, predictable routines, regular check-ins, Positive Primers, and Brain Breaks. BSEM strategies like the Ready to Learn Scale, and Circle routines can help students to feel safe and relationally connected at school. The aim is for the classroom to become an environment where students can build trust in others and themselves, leading to readiness to learn.

Motivation & Meaning

Success in learning is one of the greatest sources of motivation for a learner. However, students who initially exhibit low self-efficacy will need opportunities to develop the belief that they are capable, and that the learning will be of value to them. Teachers can create a high-expectations learning environment that builds on students’ prior knowledge and guides them through micro-moments of success. When this occurs often enough, students may exhibit a greater willingness to persist and pursue learning goals that feel meaningful to them and their wider community.

Attention & Instruction

Securing and sustaining attention is foundational to learning. Clear, sequenced instruction helps to reduce cognitive load, known as the mental effort required to process information. When instructional design exceeds the learner’s working memory capacity, learning can be compromised as stress and frustration increase (Sweller, 2011).

Practical strategies include Do Now activities to activate students’ prior knowledge, low-floor/high-ceiling tasks that allow for differentiated entry points to the lesson with high expectations, and worked examples where educators model success. These approaches help students engage with content in manageable steps, supporting comprehension and academic stamina.

Renew & Retrieve

Learning is strengthened through retrieval practice, where students are guided to recall and build upon previously learned material. This strengthens neural connections and supports long-term retention of learning. Research shows this relies on repeated and spaced retrieval to consolidate memories (Ruiz Martín, 2024).

Brain Breaks can allow the deeper regions of the brain and nervous system to renew following periods of focus, giving students an essential opportunity to meet their self-regulatory needs, while consolidating learning at spaced intervals. On return from the Brain Break, educators can help students to reorganise and refine their understanding of learning concepts, while building academic stamina.

Example in practice: In a Year 9 mathematics class, after a 15-minute skill development session on algebraic expressions, the educator initiates a Brain Break by asking students to stand, stretch, and then prepare for a ‘give and get’ activity. Students are given one minute to choose and write a related maths concept on a sticky note, which they place on their desks. On the educator’s instruction, students are then given 30 seconds to walk around the room and pick one sticky note at random from another desk. On returning to their desks, students have a final minute to discuss the concept with a table partner, explaining how they have applied it in the lesson.

In the case of this Brain Break, the teacher perceived that students could meet their physical needs by moving their bodies around the room while engaging in a curriculum-aligned cooperative learning activity.

Feedback & Review

Specific, strengths-based feedback throughout the lesson helps students reflect on their learning and adjust their strategies. It is important that educators understand the adverse impacts of shame on student motivation and give corrective feedback in respectful and relationally attuned ways. Feedback strategies, such as process praise can promote metacognition and self-regulation, helping students to become more aware of how they learn and actionable steps to make improvements for next time. Embedding review routines, such as ‘what went well’ reflections and summary activities can consolidate learning for the next opportunity.

BSEM is embracing the interdisciplinary evidence that underpins trauma-informed education and the science of learning. These perspectives and pedagogies can enhance learning for all students, and are especially powerful in classrooms where students may need repeated opportunities and compassionate support for their cognitive development and confidence.

References

Brunzell, T., & Norrish, J. (2021). Creating trauma-informed, strengths-based classrooms: Teacher strategies for nurturing students' healing, growth, and learning. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Martín, H. R. (2024). How do we learn?: A scientific approach to learning and teaching (evidence-based education). John Wiley & Sons.

Porges, S. W. (2004). Neuroception: A subconscious system for detecting threats and safety. Zero to Three, 24(5), 19–24. 

Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. In Psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 55, pp. 37-76). Academic Press.