“No Rights or Wrongs, No Magic Solutions”: Teachers' Responses to Bereaved Adolescent Students

Abstract

The study aimed to understand how teachers responded to students bereaved of a parent. The authors interviewed 12 secondary school teachers and implemented a grounded theory design. Participants described how they engage in six central processes: flexibility, openness, support, emotionality, sharing, and communication. The authors conceptualized these processes as continua with opposing actions at each end. Teachers' movement on the continua is fluid, influenced by systemic factors, student-specific factors and factors individual to the teacher. Responses on the continua in relation to each student's bereavement are unique to each teacher–student relationship.