Purpose: This paper examines how historical and intergenerational trauma continues to shape wellbeing in Irish education. Drawing on trauma theory, collective memory, power and institutional betrayal, it interrogates whether Ireland’s current wellbeing policies can be meaningfully enacted without addressing the enduring legacies of colonialism, religious control and institutional abuse.

Design/methodology/approach: Our conceptual analysis situates contemporary wellbeing initiatives within the socio-historical context of Irish education and explores the intersection between historical trauma and current wellbeing reforms. Drawing on historical literature and trauma theory, it critically examines the gap between the policy aspirations of wellbeing frameworks and their enactment in everyday practice in Irish schools.

Findings: Current wellbeing initiatives in Irish schools risk being superficial or counterproductive if they ignore the deep-rooted structural and emotional legacies of the past. Advancing meaningful wellbeing requires religious orders and school managerial bodies to practise institutional courage – acknowledging past harms and committing to openness, transparency and meaningful redress. It also necessitates sustained attention to nurturing educators’ emotional and relational capacities, ensuring that entrenched institutional patterns that undermine relational safety are not unconsciously reproduced. Our analysis calls for a deeper, reparative approach in education that centres relational safety and commits to truth-telling.