07/05/2026
This recent blog post by Professor Pamela Snow is a wonderful reminder of how evidence-based and empathetic approaches are needed in classrooms to ensure educational achievement for all students - but especially those who have a background of trauma or are neurodivergent.
Common-sense, practical and science-backed theories and practice that can make a huge difference to the participation, confidence and learning of our children. Teachers and Education Support Officers have incredibly important roles that are often under-appreciated and undervalued... and this is the kind of knowledge they need to inform their classrooms and achieve optimal outcomes for all of our children.
Teachers, however, need respect and the time and opportunity to learn and adopt practices such as these. And we need to pay teachers and ES staff appropriately, with the structural supports (professional development, time for curriculum planning and report writing etc) to keep the qualified and passionate educators we already have in our system, and to attract up-and-coming educators.
Cognitive load theory meets trauma-informed practice One of the defining aspects of education is the number of narratives running at any one time. It can be quite noisy. Sometimes these narratives are obviously connected (like explicit teaching and accountability for student outcomes) and at other times they seem to sit in parallel universes. In this....