Trauma-sensitive teaching: Supporting refugee students through music education

Danielson C.A.

Abstract This chapter proposes a descriptive model for music programs seeking to meet the social and psychological needs and interests of refugee children. Drawing upon ethnomusicological fieldwork conducted at the kulturskola, or municipal music-and-arts school, in Simrishamn, Sweden, the study focuses on a young Syrian refugee and her engagement with Swedish and Arabic song repertoires at the school. Her experiences generate insights into the integrative and acculturative potentials of music-based programs, the challenges young refugees face when adapting to new environments, and the possibilities for music-and-arts institutions to respond to newly arrived and unaccompanied children. The latter part of the chapter proposes a post-migration transition sphere model for addressing such issues, which in turn generates reflexive questions pertaining to the efficacy of diversity-driven music programs, the lived experiences of refugee children in sites of transition from trauma and conflict, and the need for additional scholarly research in these areas.

Hendricks K.S., Dansereau D.R., Bauman-Field B., Freeze C.M.

This article is a systematic review of literature related to collective and relational trust in general school settings, with applications to music education. We focused on trauma-sensitive approaches and emerging pedagogies of trust and considered how they interact with theoretical facets of relational trust (vulnerability, confidence, honesty, openness, reliability, benevolence, and competence) in music learning settings. Trauma-sensitive approaches to trust include (a) using consistent rules and routines, (b) creating engaging lessons that are fun and enjoyable, and (c) praising students honestly and authentically. Pedagogies of trust involve (a) promoting collaboration and consistency, (b) open communication and authentic listening, (c) commitment and persistence to shared goals, and (d) the teacher’s willingness to be vulnerable, take musical risks, and continue learning along with students. More research is needed to understand processes of trust involving racial trauma as well as generational differences in how trust is viewed, developed, and/or received.

Bürgin D., Anagnostopoulos D., Anagnostopoulos D., Doyle M., Eliez S., Fegert J., Fuentes J., Hebebrand J., Hillegers M., Karwautz A., Kiss E., Kotsis K., Pejovic-Milovancevic M., Räberg Christensen A.M., Raynaud J., et. al.

The infliction of war and military aggression upon children must be considered a violation of their basic human rights and can have a persistent impact on their physical and mental health and well-being, with long-term consequences for their development. Given the recent events in Ukraine with millions on the flight, this scoping policy editorial aims to help guide mental health support for young victims of war through an overview of the direct and indirect burden of war on child mental health. We highlight multilevel, need-oriented, and trauma-informed approaches to regaining and sustaining outer and inner security after exposure to the trauma of war. The impact of war on children is tremendous and pervasive, with multiple implications, including immediate stress-responses, increased risk for specific mental disorders, distress from forced separation from parents, and fear for personal and family’s safety. Thus, the experiences that children have to endure during and as consequence of war are in harsh contrast to their developmental needs and their right to grow up in a physically and emotionally safe and predictable environment. Mental health and psychosocial interventions for war-affected children should be multileveled, specifically targeted towards the child’s needs, trauma-informed, and strength- and resilience-oriented. Immediate supportive interventions should focus on providing basic physical and emotional resources and care to children to help them regain both external safety and inner security. Screening and assessment of the child’s mental health burden and resources are indicated to inform targeted interventions. A growing body of research demonstrates the efficacy and effectiveness of evidence-based interventions, from lower-threshold and short-term group-based interventions to individualized evidence-based psychotherapy. Obviously, supporting children also entails enabling and supporting parents in the care for their children, as well as providing post-migration infrastructures and social environments that foster mental health. Health systems in Europe should undertake a concerted effort to meet the increased mental health needs of refugee children directly exposed and traumatized by the recent war in Ukraine as well as to those indirectly affected by these events. The current crisis necessitates political action and collective engagement, together with guidelines by mental health professionals on how to reduce harm in children either directly or indirectly exposed to war and its consequences.

Bradley

Hess J., Bradley D.

Trauma’s ubiquity in society leads to an acknowledgement that damaging experiences likely affect more students than they leave untouched. Dewey acknowledged the importance of the past throughout his theorizing of experience and simultaneously recognized that students need to draw upon past experiences in new learning encounters. In this paper, we argue that Dewey may have opened the door to account for the possibility of traumatic experience affecting learning. We acknowledge the potential of music to prompt a trauma response and seek to explore ways that music education may also provide a mechanism for working through difficult and traumatic pasts.

Coss R.G.

Research suggests that exploratory experiences in the music classroom are a crucial developmental stage as students begin making the kinds of decisions required of them during composition and improvisation. The aims of this article are to (1) articulate a rationale for exploratory learning experiences in the music classroom and (2) outline practical strategies for using exploration as a foundation for compositional and improvisational development. Drawing on the research of Peter Webster, John Kratus, and Maud Hickey, this article outlines group and individual strategies for setting up a listening walk, introducing students to invented notation, scaffolding exploratory learning experiences in the classroom, and provides resources for extending these lessons into composition and improvisation instruction. Embedding exploration into the music classroom empowers students to develop the mental flexibility, disposition, and skills needed for improvising and composing.

Thomas M.S., Crosby S., Vanderhaar J.

Attention to childhood trauma and the need for trauma-informed care has contributed to the emerging discourse in schools related to teaching practices, school climate, and the delivery of trauma-related in-service and preservice teacher education. However, though trauma-informed systems of care include schools, empirical work informing trauma-informed teaching and teacher education that is reflected back to those audiences is less established. This interdisciplinary overview and synthesis of literature examined interventions used in schools to determine the dominant framework used for promoting and practicing trauma-informed care in schools and the effectiveness of school-based supports for trauma-affected youth to identify implications for changing teaching practice. While multiple disciplines conduct research using different methodologies examining trauma-informed practices in schools, educators are underexamined in this work. Additionally, education researchers began engaging in research on trauma-informed practices in schools more recently, and as such, research emanating from education researchers comprises a small portion of this review. Drawing across the work, we offer recommendations for a more robust, interdisciplinary research agenda with the intentional purpose to change teacher practice.

Yaylaci F.T.

AbstractFollowing the civil war in Syria, there has been a growing interest in the impact of war, violent conflict, and refuge on the development and mental health of refugee children in general and Syrian refugee children in particular. The objective of this paper is threefold: (a) to critically review the existing literature on the psychological functioning of Syrian refugee children, with a particular focus on those residing in the urban areas or camps in Turkey; (b) to identify the main theoretical and methodological problems of this emerging literature; and (c) to suggest guidelines for how to improve research and practice in this field. The reviewed literature predominantly focuses on psychological trauma, trauma-related symptomatology or other maladaptive functioning in children, and psychosocial interventions conducted toward alleviating these issues. This paper will summarize the research findings in the above-mentioned topics to discern what can be known from the existing literature on Syrian refugee children.

Blodgett C., Lanigan J.D.

We explored the feasibility of using school personnel as reporters to examine the relationship between the level of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) exposure in a nonclinical sample of public elementary schoolchildren and academic risk. We selected a random sample of 2,101 children from kindergarten through 6th grade classroom rosters at 10 elementary schools. Students were 50% male, 78% White, and 55% free and reduced meal program participants. School personnel reported their factual knowledge of 10 ACEs and academic risk in a database controlled by the schools. Data were de-identified prior to analysis. A high prevalence of ACEs exposure was reported (44%), with 13% of students experiencing 3 or more ACEs. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed a dose–response effect between the number of ACEs and risk of poor school attendance, behavioral issues, and failure to meet grade-level standards in mathematics, reading, or writing. Using elementary school personnel reports of child ACE exposure minimized family burden and potential intrusion while producing prevalence estimates consistent with those of caregiver report from the National Survey of Children’s Health. Results suggest that understanding and responding to a child’s ACE profile might be an important strategy for improving the academic trajectory of at-risk children.

Marsh K., Dieckmann S.

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, researchers from the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, folklore and sociology have developed an increasing interest in children’s musical play traditions and the ways in which children teach and learn, perform, create and transform playground games and songs. Such repertoire is drawn both from oral traditions and from children’s mediated environments, and has formed the basis of a number of prominent pedagogical approaches to music education. As malleable forms of musical expression and social activity that are found worldwide both outside of and within school contexts, playground games provide a mechanism for the growing numbers of refugee and newly arrived migrant children to attain social inclusion within school environments in host countries, while retaining connections with home cultures. This paper discusses refugee and newly arrived immigrant children’s engagement in and uses of playground musical play in a primary school in Sydney, Australia and the game charac...

Albert D.J.

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a composition competition influenced four K–12 students’ self-concepts as musicians. Research questions explored motivations for these four students to enter into a composition competition, influences of the competition on students’ self-concepts as musicians (if at all), and effects of the competition besides those of self-concept as a musician (if at all). Data sources for this multiple case design study included semi-structured interviews, journals, and wiki interactions. Findings determined that acceptance to the competition, performance of students’ works, and the reception that students received validated and strengthened their self-concepts as musicians. Suggestions for teaching practice include providing constructive feedback from competition adjudicators, creating face-to-face and online experiences for student composers to network, and offering non-adjudicated composition festival experiences for students.

Crawford R.

This article reports the findings of a case study that investigated the impact of music education on students in an F-12 school in Victoria, Australia that is considered as having a high percentage of young people with a refugee background. Key findings from this research indicated that music education had a positive impact on this group of young refugee students, which related to three primary themes: fostering a sense of wellbeing, social inclusion (a sense of belonging), and an enhanced engagement with learning. While some of these impacts were not always clearly distinguished from the more general experience of school, the students did identify some best practice elements of music learning and teaching that link to these three themes in a number of interrelated contexts. This research raises important questions about the ways in which education might be approached in schools with a high percentage of refugee background students and reaffirms the necessity of music and the arts as an important component.

Hogenes M., van Oers B., Diekstra R.F., Sklad M.

The present study aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of music education, in particular music composition as a classroom activity for fifth- and sixth-graders. The intervention (experimental condition) focused on a three-step-model for music composition, based on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory of education, and has been compared with a teacher-centered approach mainly based on students’ reproduction of music (control condition). Results indicated that after the six-month intervention period, students in the experimental group were more engaged in music education compared to students in the control group. The research did not show a statistical difference in learning outcomes with regard to intelligence, academic achievement and music achievement, although the students of the experimental group performed better with regard to reading comprehension than their counterparts in the control group. The authors conclude that music composition as a classroom activity is feasible and useful in elementary schools.

Hattie J.

Blaustein M.E.

Trauma impacts well over 20% of the population, with far-reaching personal and societal consequences that are often ameliorated by environmental supports. In this chapter, the prevalence, complex impacts and developmental influences of childhood trauma are described, and relevance of trauma to the educational community is established. The Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) framework is introduced as one whole-school approach to developing a trauma-informed system.