Engaging with issues of death, loss, and grief in elementary school: Teachers’ perceptions and affective experiences of an in-service training program on death education in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to analyze elementary school teachers’ perceptions and affective experiences of an in-service training on death education taught by the first author over three years at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute. The teacher training focused on how to teach about issues of death, loss, and grief at the elementary school. The article examines what drives teachers to participate in the training and describes their concerns and dilemmas of engaging with issues of death, loss, and grief in their teaching. The study, which is based on an action research methodology, also explores teachers’ reflections on their pedagogical efforts to design and implement a lesson plan in which issues of death, loss, and grief are included. The analysis addresses a gap in teacher professional development in social studies education engaging with issues of death, loss, and grief and discusses implications for teaching and teacher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Death education
• difficult knowledge
• elementary school teachers
• in-service training
• loss and grief
• social studies education

Acknowledgments

We thank the teachers who participated in this study and generously shared their time and experience for the purposes of this project.

Notes

1. The content of the books was considered appropriate to discuss the concepts with children of different cognitive levels (see Wagner, 2002). The first book (“Goodbye Mousie”) deals with the loss of a pet, a topic recommended for discussion with younger children—Year 1 to Year 3. The book “No matter what” is considered more suitable for children in Years 3 and 4, as it refers to the childhood worries that their significant adult will not love them forever. The last book entitled “J’ai laissé mon âme au vent” (“I gave the wind my soul”) deals with the death of a grandfather and, thus, considered to be more appropriate for children in Year 5 and 6. Teachers choose which book is more suitable for them and their students.