Expanding the Education on Death, Loss, and Grief in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The purpose of this functional thesis is to address the lack of education surrounding the topics of death, loss, and grief by introducing a set of pedagogical materials for educators in early childhood education facilities in Finland. These materials, intended for children aged four to five, serve as a preventative approach for coping with such sensitive subjects at this formative age.

Utilising theoretical background pertaining to our research question in order to guide our collection of data, we partnered with an early childhood education facility in Finland to gain access to conduct semi-structured interviews with their educators and survey the guardians.

We then evaluated our data alongside the theoretical background to create a functional set of pedagogical materials for educators in our partnering facility regarding educating the children on the matters of death, loss, and grief. These materials consist of varying literature pieces, complimentary visual art activities, and supporting dialogues which promote discussion between participants to facilitate learning.

The finalized materials were sent back to our partnering early childhood facility from where we received feedback. The conclusion of our study established an apparent lack of education on death, loss, and grief in Finland’s early childhood education curriculum. Therefore, we can determine that the pedagogical materials created as a result of this thesis could be used in early childhood education centres throughout Finland for the purpose of introducing the subject matter of death, loss, and grief to children from the age of four to five.