Towards a Pedagogy of Trauma: Experiences of Paramedics and Firefighters in a COVID-19 Era and Opportunities for Transformative Learning

Abstract

Many workers, especially first responders, experience trauma at work. We gathered experiences of frontline workers in Berlin during COVID-19 and theorize those experiences within an education paradigm. Their experiences were written as part of their reflective writing on a hazard prevention course for emergency workers in 2022. The theorizing focuses on the struggle for meaning precipitated by the student’s experiences of trauma and makes a case for understanding how this may prompt significant learning—even transformative learning—for individuals and possibly the broader society. This theoretical analysis is informed by Carol Gilligan, Axel Honneth, Oskar Negt and Jack Mezirow who help reconnect professional with personal interests and thinking with the emotional dimensions of work. We propose a critical analysis of the ways in which the instrumental, procedural and professional imperatives are disconnected from the personal and emotional dimensions of trauma work. Their struggle for recognition also assists in understanding these connections. The thinking/emotional divide and professional/personal splits are themselves a trauma and the pedagogy of reconnection is transformative.