ABSTRACT
This critical literature review reveals that the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress (STS) among teachers may be masked through a conflation of compassion fatigue and burnout. It is likely that a substantial portion of the teaching force is comprised of trauma survivors who are at greater risk of STS, given that a high number of adults report adverse childhood experiences, sexual assault, and rape; women are more likely to be harmed; and the majority of teachers are female. Educators without a trauma history are also at risk of being traumatized at school when they are in direct and repeated exposure to traumatized children or co-workers. Few adults have received adequate care for trauma recovery due to dissociated memories of past events and/or inadequate access to healthcare. STS is one likely cause of teacher attrition. Although current initiatives to implement trauma-sensitive instructional practices exist, additional trauma-informed mentorship and professional development (PD) is needed. Teacher resilience programs may be helpful for some teachers; however, they do not account for the chronic failure of communities to provide the basic resources that teachers need to succeed, nor for the excessive pressures that educators have traditionally endured.
