Compulsory bereavement education in schools

What it asks

What the petitioner did first

1. 8 Oct 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   New Petitions
   1 mention
2. 9 Dec 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
3. 10 Feb 2021
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention

1. Scotland275 78.1%
2. United Kingdom49 13.9%
3. England22 6.3%
4. Pakistan3 0.9%
5. Not given2 0.6%
6. Mexico1 0.3%

1. Mohammed haq 5 Aug 2020
   Very important something which if addressed will help youngsters in hard situation early on in life
2. Estella abraham 10 Aug 2020
   Agree
3. Linda Hargie 16 Aug 2020
   A sensible suggestion during a pandemic.
4. Kathleen Brown 17 Aug 2020
   It is a discussion that can be so difficult but so useful to be open about. Thank you Sameena
5. Catherine Gray 25 Aug 2020
   Losing someone who has been close to you can have a profound and long lasting effect on anyone. A significant loss for a child or young person at school can be life threatening. I believe the topic of death and loss merits some attention throughout the education of every child.
6. ATIA CHALMERS 27 Aug 2020
   It's very difficult for parents to prepare children for grief and bereavement when they themselves are grieving. Even worse if the child has to grieve a parent.
7. William Clark 1 Sep 2020
   Too many children are unaware of the facts surrounding bereavement.
8. Sandy Gunn 1 Sep 2020
   Having taken a period on bereavement and funerals for 20 years, I found that many pupils mentioned
   - sometimes years later
   - that they had found it helpful to have had the topic mentioned before they had to face it themselves, for no one else had dealt with it. I have been particularly interested in it because my own father died when I was young.
9. Rhona Bain 3 Sep 2020
   Death is a normal part of life and many children are affected by bereavement at a very young age. If all children have had age appropriate information about death and dying as they grow up then they will cope better when they do have a bereavement and they will have empathy with other children who have been bereaved.
10. Kirsty Cluff 3 Sep 2020
    My children have been let down terribly by the schooling system and their lack of understanding and training around bereavement. I even supplied the school with resources that I paid for to help. Despite Government ministers stating that funding had been given for bereavement training and support in schools we are yet to see any positive changes whatsoever!
11. Jill Zawadzka 3 Sep 2020
    This should be part of the school learning without a doubt.
12. Stuart Whitby 4 Sep 2020
    Any "compulsory" education on this should be avoided. Keep to the core subjects please, that teachers are semi capable of teaching. If outside charities or specialists can give a session, good stuff. Otherwise, the schooling system is doing badly enough in this country without introducing additional compulsory education on things that affect people differently where a one-size-fits-all solution is likely to be ineffective across the gamut of personalities.
13. Heather Walker 5 Sep 2020
    Bereavement is inevitable and learning more about it and how to cope with it can only benefit children and make them more attuned to the emotions of themselves and others.
14. Andrea Taylor 6 Sep 2020
    Bereavement should be as big a part of education as learning about birth as it happens to us all.
15. Jill Zawadzka 7 Sep 2020
    Totally agree.
16. Fauzia akhtar 8 Sep 2020
    Great idea should definitely be something available in schools.
17. Sadif Amjad 8 Sep 2020
    Children need to be able to understand and deal with bereavement.
18. Daniel clarke 8 Sep 2020
    We need to bring death, dying and bereavement out of the closet and work on making it less taboo to talk about.
19. Arfa Shoaib 8 Sep 2020
    Definitely strongly agree.
20. Maryam Abdallah 9 Sep 2020
    Yes should be in the curriculum is a big part of life and we can never escape it.
21. Kirsty Cluff 9 Sep 2020
    The Scottish minister for education made bold statements promising bereavement support in all Scottish schools. Both of the schools my children attend are severely lacking in their resources and training. I had to provide literature And work books to one school In order for them to support my daughter. Surely, in this day and age all staff in schools should be given training and access to resources so that all of our heartbroken youngsters can be supported and nurtured through the grieving process!
22. Shazia Mehmood 9 Sep 2020
    Nothing new has been developed in school to adapt with the changing times. It makes sense if you teach kids about health they should be taught about death and how to cope. Bereavement counselling is a sound idea. As adults it is difficult to understand death and question it. You can only imagine how devastating it can be for a child. It's time the curriculum was changed.
23. Kathleen Hughes 9 Sep 2020
    I agree it should be compulsory.