5: Leading Trauma-informed Self and Others

Drawing on our research in three research sites over the last six years, we have discussed how leaders can build a professional learning community that is focused on continuous improvement of teaching and learning. As noted in the Standard (AITSL, 2014), leaders support all staff to achieve high standards and develop their leadership capacity through managing performance, effective continuing professional learning, and feedback. We argue that values of equity must ground efforts towards school change, and leaders must be aware of the deep reflection required to develop themselves when supporting their school communities towards positive change.

Pivotal in a trauma-informed school is the focus on how to both maintain and increase staff wellbeing, defined as intentionally aiming for staff to feel well and do well in their professional roles. Staff wellbeing often focuses on increasing psychological resources, including positive emotions, relational connections, workplace meaning, and life satisfaction (Hascher & Waber, 2021). The leaders developed a range of wellbeing practices over time, depending on their context and the issues they were facing. We will provide practical examples of the specific wellbeing strategies they used to develop themselves as leaders while supporting their staff. Our research extends the understanding that leading staff wellbeing is an integral part of trauma-informed educational leadership, as it supports educators to manage daily exposures to the secondary stress of their students, parents, and carers, and to actively mitigate professional burnout.