Teacher training to support children with childhood brain tumours in school settings: a scoping review of available programmes, barriers, and implementation factors

1. Review question/Objective

The aim of this scoping review is to identify and map existing teacher training programmes, resources, and implementation factors for supporting children with a childhood brain tumour diagnosis in school settings. This will be situated within the broader context of acquired brain injury (ABI). This scoping review will focus on the primary question: What teacher training programmes and implementation factors exist to support children with childhood brain tumours or ABI in school settings?

2. Condition being studied

Childhood brain tumours can result in acquired brain injury due to tumour- and treatment-related effects, which may have long-term consequences. These effects can significantly impact educational participation and long-term development.

Acquired brain injury (ABI) includes both traumatic and non-traumatic causes which may have long-term consequences across cognitive, physical, and psychosocial domains, including engagement in school.

3. Rationale

Children with brain tumours experience long term cognitive, physical, and psychosocial challenges that affect participation in school. Teachers play a critical role but may feel underprepared. Existing supports are fragmented and largely ABI-focused rather than tumour-specific. This review will map available evidence and identify gaps to inform intervention development.

4. Introduction

Childhood brain tumours are the most common solid cancer in children, with an incidence of approximately 45–60 cases annually according to data from the National Cancer Registry of Ireland. Survival rates have improved significantly due to advances in diagnosis and treatment, with international data indicating that approximately 75% of children survive beyond ten years following diagnosis. However, many children experience long-term consequences associated with both the tumour and its treatment (Kline et al., 2020).¹ These challenges extend beyond clinical outcomes and can significantly impact participation in education, which is increasingly recognised as a key outcome of paediatric rehabilitation.

Reported effects often include cognitive impairment, fatigue, executive functioning difficulties, emotional difficulties, and physical limitations, which may persist or emerge over time (Robinson et al., 2010).² As a result, childhood brain tumours are often conceptualised within the broader framework of acquired brain injury (ABI). Acquired brain injury refers to damage to the brain occurring after birth and includes both traumatic and non-traumatic causes, such as brain tumours, stroke, infection, and hypoxia. ABI is associated with a wide range of long-term cognitive, physical, and psychosocial difficulties that can significantly impact participation in daily life activities, including education (Saly et al., 2023).³

The impact of Childhood brain tumours and ABI on education can, in turn, affect social participation and long-term development. School plays a central role in children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, and successful participation and reintegration into school are increasingly recognised as a key outcome of paediatric rehabilitation. However, children with brain tumours often face significant challenges when returning to or continuing school during or after treatment (Stubberud et al., 2022).⁴ These challenges include difficulties with attention, memory, processing speed, as well as fatigue and psychosocial difficulties such as anxiety, reduced confidence, and social isolation.

Teachers play a critical role in supporting these children and enabling their participation within the school environment. They represent a key implementation workforce within the education system, responsible for translating clinical and rehabilitation knowledge into everyday classroom practice. These responsibilities include adapting teaching strategies, managing classroom demands, and facilitating inclusion.

Despite this, there is consistent evidence that teachers often feel underprepared to support students with complex neurocognitive needs (Linden et al., 2013),⁵ particularly in the context of ABI. Reported challenges include limited knowledge of the condition, low confidence in implementing appropriate strategies, insufficient training, and limited collaboration with healthcare professionals, as identified in a consensus-based white paper drawing on multidisciplinary expertise and existing evidence (Dettmer et al., 2014).⁶ These challenges act as barriers to the effective delivery of support practices and may contribute to inconsistent practices, resistance to implementation, and suboptimal educational experiences of affected children.

Educators can be supported through approaches such as teacher training and continuing professional development (CPD), enabling them to better meet the needs of students with complex neurocognitive conditions. Training programmes may be delivered in various formats including workshops, online modules, resource toolkits, or multidisciplinary interventions (Glang et al., 2004),⁷ all of which aims to enhance teachers’ knowledge, skills, and confidence.

In addition to the content of training, implementation factors play a critical role in determining whether such interventions can be successfully adopted and sustained in real-world settings (Moore et al., 2015).⁸ These factors include feasibility, acceptability, barriers, enablers, and organisational context.

While some educational resources and training initiatives exist, they appear fragmented and predominantly focused on acquired brain injury (ABI) more broadly, with limited attention to the distinct and evolving needs of children with brain tumours. There is limited clarity regarding the availability, characteristics, and effectiveness of teacher training (Linden et al., 2018)⁹ specifically addressing this population, highlighting an important gap for further research.

Importantly, children with brain tumours may present with treatment-related late effects and fluctuating cognitive and physical symptoms over time (Linden et al., 2018),⁹ meaning that educational needs may change as children develop. Teachers are therefore required to respond not only to initial challenges following return to school, but also to emerging or evolving difficulties. This raises questions about the adequacy of existing ABI-focused training and highlights the need for more tailored and adaptable approaches to teacher training and support.

A preliminary examination of the literature indicates that research in this area remains fragmented. Studies exploring experiences of children with brain tumours or acquired brain injury within the education system are often qualitative or descriptive in nature and tend to focus on patient or family perspectives (Vanclooster et al., 2021¹⁰; Bruce et al., 2008¹¹; Long et al., 2010¹²), with comparatively less attention given to teacher training or system-level implementation, highlighting a gap in the evidence base.

Furthermore, while some reviews have examined educational outcomes or school reintegration following paediatric ABI, there continues to be a lack of comprehensive synthesis specifically addressing teacher training programmes and the factors influencing their implementation within school settings. This highlights a clear gap in the literature that warrants further exploration. In Ireland, educational supports for children with complex neurocognitive needs are often variable, with limited structured training available for teachers and no standardised educational response to acquired brain injury within school settings, contributing to a risk of unmet or unrecognised needs in the classroom (NRH et al., 2023).¹³

Given the heterogeneity of available evidence, with limited evaluation of existing interventions, a scoping review is appropriate to map the extent, nature, and characteristics of the literature. Scoping reviews are particularly suited to mapping the extent, range, and nature of evidence in emerging or complex fields, identifying gaps in knowledge, and informing future research, policy, and practice. In this context, a scoping review will enable a comprehensive examination of existing teacher training initiatives and implementation factors, without restricting the review to specific study designs or outcomes.

This review is aligned with ongoing work within The Brain-Restore Childhood & Youth project, which focuses on developing a rehabilitation pathway and improving participation outcomes for children and young people with brain tumour. It aims to inform the development of a tailored teacher training intervention within the Irish context, where current supports for educational participation may be limited or inconsistently implemented. By synthesising existing evidence on training programmes and implementation factors, this review will provide a foundation for subsequent qualitative and co-design phases of research.

A preliminary search of existing evidence syntheses was conducted on 12 April 2026 using PubMed and CINAHL. No scoping reviews specifically addressing teacher training to support children with childhood brain tumours in school settings were identified. While some training programmes relating to cancer more broadly were identified (Benstead et al., 2023),¹⁴ these are not specific to childhood brain tumours and do not adequately address the specific educational and support needs of this population.

The aim of this scoping review is to identify and systematically map existing teacher training programmes, resources, and implementation factors for supporting children with childhood brain tumours, within the broader context of acquired brain injury in school settings, to inform the development of a tailored training intervention.

5. Methods

This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews, building on the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley and further refined by Levac et al. The review will be reported in line with the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines.

6. Dissemination

Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and engagement with relevant stakeholders, including teachers and educational professionals.