Bridging emotional and academic gaps: The role of trauma-informed pedagogy in the integration of immigrant and minority students with special education needs

Mlambo, Kundai and Masuka, Manetswa Florence (2025) Bridging emotional and academic gaps: The role of trauma-informed pedagogy in the integration of immigrant and minority students with special education needs. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 27 (2). pp. 335-343. ISSN 2581-9615

Trauma-informed pedagogy is one of the effective strategies for meeting the academic as well as emotional inequities met by immigrant and minority students with special education needs. These learners frequently experience multifold problems embedded in both the pre-migration and post-migration traumas, disability-related stigma, cultural and linguistic barriers, and systemic exclusion. Trauma-informed education establishes healing, engagement, and a sense of belonging by emphasizing safety, trust, empowerment, collaboration, and cultural responsiveness. The literature review examines various evidence-based practices such as culturally responsive instruction, bilingual and trauma-informed language instruction, social-emotional learning frameworks such as the Pyramid Model, and inclusive resources such as Universal Design for Learning and arts-based practices. It also shows the importance of community and family involvement and the field of new technologies such as virtual reality or the use of digital supports to increase accessibility. These drivers of successful implementation include educator preparation, leadership at the institution, and policy congruence. The UK and Nordic countries present global insights on the matter, or rather comparative insights whose relevance lies in the significance of integrated systems. This study recommends that intersectional reform of policy should be done to acknowledge the compounding effects of trauma, disability, and migration. The construction of inclusive educational systems should be made on a comprehensive equity basis that collaborates with the rights of all learners and their right to learning, succeeding, and flourishing on academic and non-academic fronts.