Trauma-Informed Education During Crisis

The Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered large-scale displacement and placed refugee children at elevated risk for trauma exposure, disrupted schooling, and long-term psychosocial distress. Estonian schools received Ukrainian students amid acute national anxiety and limited prior experience hosting large numbers of war refugees. This mixed-methods study examines Estonian teachers’ attitudes toward trauma-informed care and their planned classroom responses for welcoming Ukrainian refugee students. Participants (N = 63) were teachers and education students enrolled in a trauma-focused course delivered through Fulbright support in spring 2022. Pretest and posttest results from the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care Scale for Education (ARTIC-35) showed statistically significant gains across five domains, with medium-to-large effect sizes. Qualitative analysis of end-of-course writing assignments emphasized emotional and physical safety, trauma literacy and neurobiology, modeling of regulation, and concrete classroom tools to support belonging and learning. Findings support embedding trauma-informed preparation in educator training and ongoing professional development, especially in crisis-driven migration contexts.