The Trauma Teachers Bring to Teaching

First-Year Teacher Results from the Traumatic Life Events Checklist

Abstract

As schools and districts support teachers through their first year of teaching, do they fully understand the depth of primary trauma that first-year teachers may bring? This paper highlights a focused analysis of a larger study examining teacher secondary traumatic stress. This sub-study focuses on primary trauma of the participants, the traumas first-year teachers may bring from their lives as they enter the teaching field. Ninety-one first-year teachers completed the Life Events Checklist, a scale that screens for potentially traumatic events in a respondent's lifetime. Ninety-one percent reported experiencing one or more primary traumas, ranging from struggles with mental health to sexual assaults to witnessing school shootings. This critical finding uncovers an aspect of the experience that first-year teachers may bring to the classroom and offers implications for teacher preparation and the teaching field.