Loss and grief in the context of the health promoting school

This thesis examines the problems, controversies and concerns of teachers and students in handling loss and grief in schools. In establishing a theoretical framework, this thesis draws on research literature from a number of fields, notably education, social psychology and health promotion. Using the framework, in particular, of the health promoting school, loss and grief is examined in-depth, in two high schools in New South Wales. The research utilised an institutional case study design involving repeated in-depth interviewing, participant observation and document analysis. Each case explores not only how schools handled issues of loss and grief but how each evolved a critical incident management plan to help handle such traumatic incidents in the future. These case studies are preceded by a Regional survey of the extent to which schools in the Regions in which the case studies were located were aware of the issues of loss and grief and had programmes to support them. Several important findings emerged from the research. The first is the `hidden grief' of the teachers and the conflict they feel between their expectations of how they should behave professionally and their personal reactions in loss situations. The second is the utility and educational potential of personal disclosure by teachers in teaching and counselling students about loss and grief. The third is the realisation that researching sensitive issues is itself an emotionally charged experience for the researcher as well as the participants. The thesis concludes by arguing that the health promoting school provides a supportive environment for handling loss and grief in schools, but that this is something that requires forward planning, sensitive management and collective responsibility.</p