I have spent almost 40 years working to understand how violence in all its forms (including all the systemic violences) impacts learning in any setting and at any age.
My main emphasis has always been on discovering, and then teaching others, ways to reduce the negative impacts of violence, neglect, and other experiences that lead to trauma responses. I am passionate about developing ways to support learning for everyone, whatever the past or present experiences that shape engagement with learning, teaching, and living life creatively.
Recently I was interviewed about the Impact of Violence on Learning by staff of the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy for their Legacy series. This 30 minute podcast gives an introduction to why I argue that educators must pay attention to these impacts.
Though trauma-aware, and trauma-informed have become more popular terms in recent years I prefer the language of a Learning and Violence Stance to stress the point of view that recognizes the multifaceted and ongoing nature of violence in society, and the correspondingly complex pressures when any one of us try to support learning, our own or others’, within colonial institutions and an unjust society founded on violence.
You can read more below about a Learning and Violence Stance below. I see it as a place to stand with curiosity, connection and conscious awareness, before the colonial gaze-with its judgments, diagnoses, labels and standard stories-shape and limit our view.
