Teachers' perceptions of their role facing children in grief

A questionnaire was sent to teachers in the western part of Norway to survey the attitudes and thoughts teachers have about grief in young people and how they look upon their supportive role. A total of 138 school personnel answered the questionnaire, a 44.5% response rate. In addition six focus group interviews were conducted to get in-depth knowledge from the same population of teachers and headmasters. Participants in both groups had extensive experience from working in schools (most > 10 years). Both the quantitative and qualitative results showed that Norwegian teachers were well aware of children's needs and were understanding of their situation. They did not perceive grief to be something that children easily forget and they were aware of how important it is to show empathy for their grieving students. Most agreed that grieving students were overlooked in school. There were few differences between teachers with and without practical experience with grief among students.