Children and Teenagers who are exposed to war and flight show an increased risk of traumatization and require particularly sensitive and professional pedagogical attention and support. Prof. Dr. Friedrich Linderkamp and Prof. Dr. Gino Casale from the Institute for Educational Research at the University of Wuppertal are investigating what this can look like and how traumatized students can be optimally supported in the research project „TRAILS“
Almost 166,000 asylum applications were made in Germany in 2019, 50.5% of them from children and young people up to the age of 18 (BAMF, 2019). The entries came from crisis and war zones, so that these children and young people are at high risk for traumatization, e.g. due to human trafficking, criminal or sexual exploitation and forced military recruitment (Schröder, Zok & Faulbaum, 2018).
Traumatized students represent a major challenge in inclusion. So far there is a lack of evidence-based concepts for diagnostics and support in this context. Within the TRAILS research project, a participatory developed integrated system of methods for trauma sensitive diagnosis and support of children and adolescents with a refugee background in inclusive schools (TRAILS system) is being implemented and its effectiveness evaluated.
For the research project, cooperating secondary schools with inclusive classes in grades 5 to 8 from North Rhine-Westphalia are being sought for the period from mid-2023, which also teach students with refugee experiences.
