Wijesinghe, Thilinika (2026) From lost voices to safe spaces: A survivor-teacher’s journey through schooling in crisis. In: Barnes, Naomi, Riddle, Stewart, Hughes, Bridget, Hughes, Joanne, and Beabout, Brian, (eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Schooling in Times of Crisis. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, UK, pp. 453-463.

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Abstract

This chapter explores the interplay of personal trauma and educational practice through twin narratives set nearly a decade apart. In the first timeline, a 14-year-old survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami returns from a family holiday to find her school ill-equipped to address her individual trauma and isolation. The psychological and social impacts of the disaster on the young author—from unspoken trauma to the neglect of emotional support in a system preoccupied with academic catch-up—are portrayed in intimate, lyrical detail. In the second timeline, the narrator is a teacher in post-flood Sri Lanka (2013), translating that childhood experience into a trauma-informed and empathetic pedagogy. The chapter alternates between past and present, illustrating how personal history fosters an ethic of care: creating classroom spaces for stories, art, music, or silence as vehicles of healing. Woven throughout are scholarly reflections on trauma-informed education, crisis theory, and the global need for culturally responsive, compassionate schooling in times of crisis. These interlaced narratives and reflections highlight that while crises can shatter childhoods, they can also catalyse new educational practices grounded in empathy, resilience, and hope.

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