"Mum, when we die, what do you think happens?" A qualitative study of views on death education among Spanish families.

We developed a study to determine perceptions of death education among parents of Spanish schoolchildren aged 3-18 years. We used a qualitative approach, using focus groups and interviews in six state schools. Notable findings were death-related issues are of interest to families, parents recognized the educational potential of teaching death issues, and they called for training in the Pedagogy of Death for both themselves and teachers. In death education, it is important to take families' views into account, acknowledging their authority and contributions, to improve schools and education for both children and parents.

Impact of a teacher-training MOOC on the Pedagogy of Death during the pandemic.

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a MOOC on the attitudes of pre-service and in-service teachers toward education on death. The study adopted a pre- and post-test design. Participants (N = 139) answered the Death Education Attitudes Scale-Teachers (DEAS-T) questionnaire at the beginning and end of the course. The results confirmed significant differences between the pre- and post-course applications in the three scale factors-need for training in the Pedagogy of Death, inclusion of death in education, and educational awareness of death. Open-access, free, mass training through a MOOC could have a positive impact on attitudes toward death education among both pre- and in-service teachers.

The presence of death in Spanish education law (1812-2006).

The objective of this study is to determine whether death has been present, and if so in what way, in Spanish education law from 1812 to 2006. The presence of 25 terms semantically related to death was analyzed in laws and regulations on school curricula. Death is generally absent as a directly approachable phenomenon within the given period, except in scattered regulations which, as a rule, link death in education to religion. From the beginnings of the democratic period in Spain (1975), socially relevant subjects with indirect but significant relationships with death, such as biodiversity and the Holocaust, appear.

What do teachers think of death education?

This study sets out to address a gap in research into teachers' attitudes and opinions toward death education. To meet this objective, two complementary instruments were designed and validated: the Death Education Attitudes Scale-Teachers (DEAS-T), which showed suitable psychometric values, and the Death Education Questionnaire-Teachers (DEQ-T). The sample comprised 683 teachers from a range of schools. The results show moderately positive attitudes toward death education. Variables such as gender, age, type of teacher, and religious beliefs all influenced results. The findings argue in favor of the inclusion of death in education and teacher training.