Death education: Knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of Irish parents and teachers

This article reports on a cross-sectional survey Of the knowledge, attitude s and perspectives of Irish parents and school teachers concerning children 's grief and the concept of death education. The sample comprised 119 paren ts and 142 teachers of Irish Primary-school children (5-12 years of age) wh o completed a self-administered questionnaire. Both parents and teachers re ported high levels of understanding of the nature of children's grief and s trongly supported the view that death should be discussed with children bef ore they encounter it. Although discussions of death ware reported in the c lassroom and in the home, both teachers and parents, particularly men, repo rted being uncomfortable talking to children about death. There was general support for the inclusion of death education in the school curriculum, wit h both teachers and parents supporting the need for further teacher trainin g to undertake its delivery. there were few significant differences between the expressed attitudes of parents and teachers. However, teachers were mo re likely than patents to agree that death education would take away from p arental responsibility. The implications of the findings for further work i n this area are considered.