New policy report recommends all children in England should receive grief education at school
As part of an ongoing collaboration between the University of Bristol, Child Bereavement UK and Childhood Bereavement Network, a new policy report has been published which demonstrates the need to integrate grief education into the statutory curriculum in England, consolidating decades of research and campaigning by charities, families, teachers, and academics and reflecting a key recommendation in the UK Commission on Bereavement’s landmark report (2022).
Nearly all British children experience a bereavement by the age of sixteen. Approximately 1 in 29 school-age children has been bereaved of a parent or sibling, an equivalent of one child in every class. Many more children have been bereaved of a grandparent, other relative, close friend, or pet. Through news and social media, young people are exposed to more conversations about death than ever before.
Yet, there is currently no requirement for schools in England to provide grief education and research suggests the topics are rarely taught. The statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) only references bereavement as one of the common ‘adverse childhood experiences’ teachers should consider when they teach.
Some schools may choose to use parts of the PSHE Association programme of study, which references ‘death’ or ‘bereavement’ at each stage of education, but these guidelines are not mandatory. Studies suggest that non-statutory topics – especially those that could be sensitive or controversial – are often not taught. This results in a postcode lottery where many children have no classes on this universally relevant topic.
The report, which is authored by Dr Lesel Dawson, Rachel Hare, Dr Lucy E. Selman (University of Bristol), Tracey Boseley (Child Bereavement UK), Alison Penny MBE (Childhood Bereavement Network and National Bereavement Alliance), and NAFD President John Adams, concludes that the Government have committed to teaching about mental wellbeing at school. Learning about grief, death and loss should be part of this provision.
The key findings of the report include:
- Children who participate in dedicated grief education programmes are more able to discuss grief and less anxious about death. Evidence supports proactive grief education that allows pupils to learn about the topics outside of the context of a traumatic event and return to them in age-appropriate steps as they progress through school. Talking about grief can also help learners who are affected by other types of loss (including parental separation or friendship changes). Grief education would normalise the feelings of grief; help bereaved children understand, express and manage their emotions; and prepare other pupils to support their friends and classmates.
- Children and young people are keen to learn about grief, death and loss in school. Nearly all of the 99 bereaved young people who reported to the UK Commission on Bereavement (2022) and the majority of the 31,000 others who participated in the accompanying VotesforSchools (2022) survey supported the idea of school-based grief education. They often recognised that death is a universal experience and that it would be helpful to learn skills to cope and support others even if the topics can be difficult to discuss.
When a 2012 Ofsted survey asked 11–18-year-olds in England ‘which PSHE education topics they would like to learn about in school but currently did not’, ‘coping with bereavement’ was the most popular response. Although it is natural to want to protect children from upsetting truths, even very young children have a concept of death and benefit from talking about it and having their questions answered.
- Adults in the UK generally support sensitive grief education. Some research into adults’ perspectives on grief education suggests children should learn about death and bereavement at home. However, the UK Commission on Bereavement (2022) found general support for school-based grief education amongst adults. Furthermore, when the YouGov (2021) ‘Daily Question’ for 16th March 2021 asked ‘do you think the subject of death, and issues around dying, should or should not be taught in schools?’, 67% of 4028 British adults responded ‘it should’, while only 13% responded that ‘it should not’.
- Schools in England have access to a wealth of appropriate resources for sensitive teaching. Schools in England already have policies to engage with families about the content of sex education and religious education and offer parents the right to withdraw their child from parts of the curriculum. This approach could be extended to grief education, allowing teachers to communicate what will be covered and parents, carers and young people to ask questions and raise concerns. Sensitive grief education centres on generalised discussions rather than personal experiences, recognises religious and cultural differences, and allows bereaved pupils to opt out.
There is also a wide range of resources available from bereavement charities and teacher training programmes are available, but only a small proportion of educational professionals currently access the courses.
- Mandatory grief education in schools may help instigate a wider cultural change. Enabling children to talk confidently and compassionately about grief, death and loss could normalise and destigmatise bereavement and grief, fostering the development of a kinder society. The organisations who reported to the UK Commission on Bereavement (2022) ‘highlighted the importance of looking forward when thinking about grief education, and how we can positively influence the next generation to offer understanding and compassion to those who will be bereaved’.
Curriculum change could also improve bereavement support in schools. While educational professionals often work incredibly hard to help their pupils, it is widely acknowledged that many staff at UK schools are insufficiently trained to support children and young people through bereavement. The UK Commission on Bereavement (2022) found significant disparities in the level of staff training and bereavement support available in different schools and different areas, with about a third of the bereaved young people surveyed reporting that they were ‘not at all supported’ by their education setting.
The report’s key recommendations:
- Discussions of grief, death and loss should be a mandatory component of primary and secondary relationships, sex and health education in England. This will enable learners to talk about grief and death in a calm environment and return to the topics in age-appropriate steps. The core education programme can be supplemented with additional conversations when appropriate.
- Discussions related to grief, death, and loss should also be incorporated into subjects like English, science, religious education and history and supported by wider school initiatives, allowing learners to explore different personal, religious, and cultural responses to bereavement and understand death as a natural part of life.
- Teachers and other educational professionals should be offered training on how to start conversations about grief, death and loss, and integrate these topics into their teaching. This training could also give them confidence to support bereaved pupils more effectively, a widely acknowledged need amongst teachers.
- Grief education should incorporate the wealth of resources and expertise which already exists in the UK.
Find out more and download the report here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/grief-education-schools/