Webinar with Professor Carol Mutch
May 15 2023
Professor Carol Mutch (University of Auckland) shares her research from over 12 years of supporting schools through different disasters and crises both in Aotearoa and the wider Asia-Pacific. In particular, she discusses how the role of teachers change as communities respond to and recover from the event, as schools reopen, and as children return with different levels of trauma. Carol suggests ways in which teachers can:
- Look after yourselves
- Balance your changing roles post-disaster
- Help your students process their experiences
- Support their whānau; and
- Engage with wider community initiatives
While Carol has most experience working with school-communities, this webinar will also be relevant to early childhood teachers. It will be particularly relevant to those teachers and communities that have been affected by the recent weather events across New Zealand.
To help you navigate the webinar easily, there is a list of the key topics covered in the session below, including the time each was discussed. The key ideas discussed in this webinar are also shared in a short insight article.
Topics discussed in this webinar:
Times shown in minutes and seconds from the start of the video:
| 2.00 | The four key findings from Carol’s research into schools’ responses to disaster and trauma, based on her work in New Zealand, Japan, Nepal, and Vanuatu |
| 10.56 | How children commonly respond to disaster events and trauma, and what teachers can do to support them |
| 16.09 | Supporting students through the return to school |
| 23.45 | The importance of allowing enough time for children to settle back into school |
| 27.58 | Trauma-informed schools and early childhood centres |
| 31.50 | The importance of teacher wellbeing and supporting teachers through trauma |
| 38.33 | The school as a community hub: how teachers and parents can work together through the aftermath of a traumatic event |
| 41.58 | The long-term impacts of disasters and trauma |
| 49.44 | Helping children understand each other’s trauma |
