Books for Teachers about Trauma-Informed Teaching

Trauma-informed teaching asks schools to look beyond a pupil’s immediate presentation and consider how safety, relationships, predictability and past experience may shape learning. This selection of books for teachers about trauma-informed teaching brings together practical classroom guidance, attachment-aware approaches, specialist inclusion advice, literacy applications and whole-school leadership perspectives. It is aimed at teachers, pastoral and inclusion staff, SENCOs and school leaders, with several titles written for particular phases or systems. The books are professional reading, not a substitute for safeguarding, clinical or specialist advice. For prices and ordering, click on the book cover.

Books on Trauma-Informed Teaching – our recommendations

The A-Z of Trauma-Informed Teaching: Strategies and Solutions to Help with Behaviour and Support for Children Aged 3-11 by Sarah Naish, Anne Oakley, Hannah O’Brien, Sair Penna and Daniel Thrower

This is a primary-focused reference title with a strongly practical format. It begins with a plain-language account of trauma-informed teaching, then works as an A-Z guide to situations such as aggression, lateness, learning difficulties and sleep-related problems. The age range is explicit, making it a better fit for early years and primary staff than secondary teachers. Its quick-reference structure suits busy classrooms, although it should be read alongside a school’s safeguarding, inclusion and behaviour procedures rather than used as a stand-alone programme.

The Trauma and Attachment-Aware Classroom: A Practical Guide to Supporting Children Who Have Encountered Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences by Rebecca Brooks

Rebecca Brooks connects trauma, attachment and classroom experience, with particular attention to how adversity can affect learning, behaviour, relationships and home-school cooperation. The book discusses foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, pathological demand avoidance and attachment difficulties as well as broader classroom adjustments, so it will interest primary teachers, pastoral staff and inclusion teams. It is practical and accessible, but its attachment-aware lens needs careful use: staff should avoid turning a broad framework into an assumed explanation for an individual pupil’s behaviour.

Working with Relational Trauma in Schools: An Educator’s Guide to Using Dyadic Developmental Practice by Louise Michelle Bombèr, Kim S. Golding and Sian Phillips

This is the specialist relational title in the list. It introduces Dyadic Developmental Practice and considers how educators can respond to children whose relationships and sense of safety have been shaped by developmental or relational trauma. The emphasis is on attunement, connection, reflection and the adult’s role in creating a more reliable school experience, making it relevant to foster and adoptive support, pastoral work and specialist inclusion. It is not a quick behaviour manual; teams will get more from it when they have time for shared reflection and consistent implementation.

Creating a Trauma-informed Classroom (Critical Teaching) by Sarah Lathan

Sarah Lathan sets trauma-informed classroom practice within a concise critical teaching framework. The book considers how safety, relationships, classroom climate, identity and power affect participation, then turns those ideas into decisions teachers can make in everyday planning and interaction. It is a useful bridge between introductory reading and a school’s wider professional learning programme, with enough conceptual material to prompt discussion rather than just supply tips. The international framing means UK readers should translate terminology and check any suggested practice against local safeguarding and SEND arrangements.

Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools: Your Guide to Creating Safe, Supportive Learning Environments for All Students by Jen Alexander

Jen Alexander moves from individual classroom responses to a whole-school framework. The book covers trauma’s effects on development, attachment, behaviour and learning, then organises school improvement around safety, connection, regulation and learning. It includes universal strategies, more intensive supports, staff reflection, sample scripts and planning materials, which makes it relevant to senior leaders, pastoral teams and school counsellors. It was written for the US K-12 context, so the multi-tier language and forms need translating into UK systems, policies and professional roles.

Trauma-Sensitive School Leadership: Building a Learning Environment to Support Healing and Success by Bill Ziegler, Dave Ramage, Andrea Parson and Justin Foster

School leaders looking beyond individual classrooms will find a clear focus here on culture, policy and the conditions that allow trauma-sensitive practice to be sustained. The authors address bias, avoiding retraumatisation, discipline, physical spaces, staff support and the leadership decisions that shape daily experience. The format is built around concrete strategies and discussion points, making it suitable for headteachers, deputies, pastoral leads and trust teams. Its examples and terminology come from US public education, so it should stimulate whole-school thinking rather than be treated as UK policy guidance.

Trauma-Informed Practice in Montessori Classrooms: An Essential Guide for Students and Teachers by Bernadette Phillips, Catriona O’Toole, Sinéad McGilloway and Stephen Phillips

This is the most distinctive phase and pedagogy-specific choice. It examines trauma-informed practice through Montessori principles, asking how prepared environments, observation, independence, routine and respectful relationships can support children affected by adversity. Montessori teachers and leaders will find it more directly relevant than a general classroom handbook, while non-Montessori readers may still value its close attention to environment and agency. The focus is not a replacement for Montessori training or specialist support, and its terminology will be less useful to schools working outside that approach.

Trauma-Informed Teaching in Your Elementary Classroom: Simple Strategies to Create Inclusive, Safe Spaces as the First Step to Learning by Lori Brown and Alison Bartlett

Lori Brown and Alison Bartlett concentrate on day-to-day teaching in the elementary classroom, with practical suggestions for predictable routines, inclusive spaces, relationships and learning after adversity. It is an accessible entry point for primary teachers who want classroom examples rather than a leadership framework, and it may also support coaching conversations with teaching assistants. The elementary terminology and wider framing reflect the US school system, however, so UK readers will need to map the ideas onto year groups, safeguarding duties and SEND practice.

Trauma-Informed Practice in Early Education: Making a Lifetime’s Difference by James McTaggart

James McTaggart focuses on early years, where relationships, communication, sensory experience and daily routines are central to children’s experience of education. The book is useful for nursery leaders, early years practitioners, reception staff and inclusion teams looking to understand trauma-informed practice in the first years of formal learning. It has a broader early-education remit than a primary classroom manual, which is its strength for settings working across care and education. Readers should connect the discussion to the EYFS, safeguarding procedures and local multi-agency support.

Inside I’m Hurting: Practical Strategies for Supporting Children with Attachment Difficulties in Schools by Louise Michelle Bombèr

This established UK title is centred on the school experience of children with attachment difficulties. Bombèr discusses additional attachment figures in school, transitions, arousal, shame, conflict, home-school partnership and the move between primary and secondary settings. Its strength is the close attention to what adults do during ordinary moments, not just during crises, and it remains particularly relevant to pastoral and inclusion work. It is an older book, so readers should pair its relational advice with current safeguarding, SEND and mental health guidance and avoid treating attachment language as a diagnosis.

What About Me?: Inclusive Strategies to Support Pupils with Attachment Difficulties Make It Through the School Day by Louise Michelle Bombèr

Bombèr’s second school-focused title looks at the practical obstacles that can make a school day feel unmanageable for pupils with attachment difficulties. It is especially useful for staff planning transitions, routines, regulation and supportive responses across lessons, breaks and unstructured times. The pupil-facing perspective helps teams think about consistency between adults rather than relying on one trusted relationship. As with other attachment-based books, it is best used as reflective professional reading, not as a diagnostic tool or a reason to lower expectations.

Know Me to Teach Me: Differentiated Discipline for Those Recovering from Adverse Childhood Experiences by Louise Michelle Bombèr

This book tackles discipline through an adverse childhood experiences and relational lens. Bombèr asks staff to consider how sanctions, demands, repair and adult language may be experienced by pupils recovering from adversity, then suggests ways to differentiate responses while keeping learning and boundaries in view. It will interest behaviour leads, pastoral teams and teachers working with repeated incidents. The title is more specific than a general trauma-informed guide, but the approach needs careful discussion with colleagues so that differentiated support is consistent, proportionate and compatible with the school’s published behaviour policy.

The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching by Patricia A. Jennings

Patricia A. Jennings brings classroom practice together with the teacher’s own stress and emotional regulation. The book explores how trauma can influence attention, behaviour and relationships, then considers compassionate routines, mindful awareness, connection and resilience in the classroom. It may suit teachers who want a reflective, psychologically informed companion to more procedural handbooks, and it can prompt useful staff development conversations. This is a US title with a strong individual-classroom focus; it does not set out UK safeguarding expectations or a whole-school implementation plan.

Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Van Marter Souers and Pete Hall

Souers and Hall offer a practical teacher framework built around recognising trauma, strengthening relationships, creating safety and responding to behaviour with a wider view of the learner. It is written in an accessible, coaching-friendly style and can work well as a starting point for a staff reading group or an individual teacher who needs classroom language and routines to think with. The book’s US context matters: terminology, examples and school structures do not map neatly onto UK practice, and its strategies should sit within local safeguarding and behaviour systems.

Trauma-Informed Teaching and IEPs: Strategies for Building Student Resilience by Melissa Sadin

Melissa Sadin links trauma-informed instruction with planning for individual pupils. Chapters cover adverse childhood experiences, trauma’s effects on learning and behaviour, a classroom framework and the design of trauma-informed IEPs. The emphasis will interest SENCOs, inclusion leads and teachers who want to connect classroom adjustments with individual planning, rather than leave them as separate conversations. The major limitation for UK readers is the IEP terminology and US special-education context: translate the ideas carefully into EHCPs, support plans and the graduated approach instead of treating the book as procedural guidance.

Trauma Responsive Educational Practices: Helping Students Cope and Learn by Micere Keels

Micere Keels takes a broader systems view, linking trauma-responsive education with stress prevention, educator wellbeing, mindfulness, student self-regulation and the design of supportive educational settings. It is a more conceptual read than the A-Z or attachment-based manuals, and will suit leaders, pastoral professionals and teachers who want to understand the rationale behind school responses. The examples are rooted in US communities experiencing violence, poverty, foster-care involvement and housing instability, so UK readers should treat it as a perspective and discussion prompt, not a ready-made programme.

Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress by Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz and Judie Haynes

This strength-based book is aimed at teachers working with pupils affected by trauma, violence or chronic stress, including multilingual learners and students whose lives are shaped by social disadvantage. It shifts attention towards assets, belonging, participation and the classroom conditions that make learning possible, rather than treating difficulty as the whole story. It offers a useful counterweight to deficit-focused accounts and could support staff discussion about inclusion. The examples and terminology are US-centred, so UK teams will need to connect the ideas to local provision and policy.

Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education by Alex Shevrin Venet

Alex Shevrin Venet places equity at the centre of trauma-informed education, examining how race, poverty, disability, power and institutional responses shape pupils’ experience of safety and belonging. The book is valuable for leaders and staff teams who want to question whether apparently supportive systems can still reproduce exclusion or blame. It is more analytical and discussion-led than a step-by-step classroom handbook, which is both its purpose and its limitation. The international context means examples and policy references need translation for UK schools and trusts.

Trauma-Sensitive Literacy Instruction: Building Student Resilience in English-Language Arts Classrooms by Rachelle S. Savitz and Britnie Delinger Kane

This is the subject-specific choice for English and literacy professionals. Savitz and Delinger Kane explore how English-language arts teachers can design literacy instruction that acknowledges trauma without asking pupils to disclose personal experiences, with attention to texts, discussion, participation and classroom relationships. It may prompt useful reflection for English departments, reading leads and teachers planning sensitive content. It is written for US English-language arts classrooms, however, and should not be mistaken for UK reading guidance, a therapeutic literacy intervention or a substitute for safeguarding practice.

Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom by Susan E. Craig

Susan E. Craig focuses on the teaching decisions that help pupils affected by trauma remain engaged with learning. The book considers how to adapt instruction, build supportive relationships, use positive behaviour supports and respond to the ways trauma can affect attention, participation and classroom behaviour. It is a practical addition for teachers and inclusion staff, especially alongside a more current whole-school title. Published in the US and older than most of the list, it needs contextualising within current UK safeguarding, SEND and behaviour guidance, but its classroom focus remains directly relevant.

Books on Trauma-Informed Teaching Resources

• NEU: Trauma-informed practice and approach – Practical union guidance explaining trauma-informed practice, with links to the Little Book of Trauma-Informed and related advice for UK education staff.
• Mental health and behaviour in schools – Department for Education advice for England on whole-school culture, the relationship between mental health and behaviour, identification and support.
• Education Endowment Foundation: Improving Behaviour in Schools – Evidence-informed guidance on understanding pupils, classroom management and consistent school-wide approaches. It complements trauma-specific reading rather than replacing it.
• UK Trauma Council – Free resources for school and college communities, including guidance on traumatic bereavement, critical incidents and understanding childhood trauma.
• Anna Freud: Traumatic bereavement resources – Animations, written guidance and practical tools for education professionals supporting children and young people after traumatic bereavement.
• Trauma-informed Lancashire resource library – Free briefings and materials covering trauma-informed practice in education settings, implementation, language and trauma-informed spaces.

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