Exploring perspectives of whole-school attachment and trauma aware approaches in a specialist provision

Abstract

A recent focus on attachment and trauma awareness (ATA) in schools has led to whole-school training programmes and evaluations. The outcomes have been positive; however, the dominant focus of research is on the implementation of whole-school ATA in mainstream settings. This project adopted a case study to explore how the training and approaches had been implemented in a school community, including a special school and pupil referral units. Data were collected from three semi-structured interviews with staff in varying roles, and the views of 11 pupils were obtained via a classroom activity as supplementary data. Thematic analysis highlighted five key themes which directly answered the three research questions, namely: strategies and approaches used; pupil outcomes; facilitators to implementation; barriers to implementation; and training and improvements. It is hoped that this study will help further professional understanding and implementation of ATA in non-mainstream settings. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.