The government and a youth charity will spend £5.8 million on four projects to examine whether contested trauma-informed practice actually does keep children safe from violence and could lead to lower exclusions.
Trauma-informed practice involves basing interventions on an understanding that exposure to trauma can impact pupils’ development.
The approach has become more popular in schools in recent years, with its proponents arguing it changed the culture of their schools for the better.
But it has also been criticised – notably by government behaviour tsar Tom Bennett – who recently said it had “become 100 different things, justifying 100 different approaches”.
