Handling Bereavement in the class - Martin Lytje

Handling bereavement in the class - A
comparative study on Danish and English
approaches to bereavement in the school
Faculty of Education
Master of Philosophy thesis
Author:
Martin Lytje
Supervisor:
Dr. Stefanie Luthman
Thesis submitted in part-fulfillment of the
requirements for the Master of Philosophy of
Education in the University of Cambridge Faculty
of Education.
Words: 19.143
July 2011

Abstract
This thesis explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Danish and English
bereavement response systems, a comparison that few studies have
focused on. In order to better comprehend the societal understanding of
bereavement, it starts out by exploring how the concepts of death and
grief have changed over time. This is followed by an examination of how
the Danish and English schools have developed ways of handling cases
of bereavement, which builds a stronger foundation for examining the
strengths and weaknesses of the bereavement responses in the two systems.
The examination is done by selecting one case from each country
and comparing the differences in how the bereavements were handled.
To ensure that enough depth is achieved in the examination of the two
cases while avoiding ethical pitfalls, the unstructured timeline interview
is developed as a research tool.
In the last part of this thesis, the findings are presented and discussed.
It is found that the Danish school seems to have a more structured and
consistent response than its English counterpart. This appears to come
at the price of a higher level of emotional distress for Danish teachers.
In concluding, consideration is given to whether the merits of the Danish
system are strong enough to justify its faults and whether the English system
could benefit from incorporating the Danish bereavement response
plans.

Acknowledgements
This thesis is dedicated to my sister who always believed in
me, even when I did not believe in myself. Without her constant
belief in me and support I would never have entered the
world of academia and this thesis would never have existed.
Many thanks also go to my supervisor Dr. Stefanie Luthman
for her very dedicated support. Under her proficient gaze, it
has been impossible not to improve. Furthermore, Jes Dige
should be acknowledged for taking time to help me piece together
the history of the Danish crisis response together and
offering some interesting perspectives on its state. Despite
all mentioned efforts this study would have been impossible
without the honesty and courage my participants showed in
being willing to participate in a study that made many uncomfortable.
Last but not least, my eternal gratitude goes to
all the people who have helped me improve this thesis by offering
advice or critiquing my work. You are too many to be
mentioned in name but none of your efforts will be forgotten.

Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 Review of the field 5
2.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.1 Bereavement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.2 Grief and mourning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Understanding of death in a historical perspective . . . . 7
2.2.1 Early understanding of death . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.2 Modern understanding of death . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Main theories of bereavement and grief . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.1 Early understanding of grief and bereavement . . 9
2.3.2 A.F. Shand and “The laws of sorrow” . . . . . . . 10
2.3.3 Freudian contributions to grief . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.4 The beginning of empirical research . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.5 Parkes and the professionalisation of the study of
bereavement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.6 Bowlby and the stage theories of grief . . . . . . 13
2.3.7 The field today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Practice and intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4.1 The English system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.2 The Danish system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.3 Bereavement response plans . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.5 Summary and modified understanding . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 Methodology 22
3.1 Introduction to the interview design . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2 Ethical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Constructing the unstructured timeline interview . . . . 23
3.3.1 The unstructured interview . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.2 The timeline interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.3 The unstructured timeline interview . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.4 Objectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.5 Validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3.6 Generalisability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4 Pilot study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.5 Main Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1

CONTENTS 2
3.5.1 Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.5.2 Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.5.3 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.5.4 Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5.5 Data preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4 Results 36
4.1 Acute response - the first two weeks . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2 Long term response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.3 Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.3.1 Interaction with student and family . . . . . . . . 41
4.3.2 Division of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.3.3 Burden on the individual teacher . . . . . . . . . 43
5 Discussion 44
5.1 Evaluation of Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2 Differences between the two systems . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2.1 Handling a case of bereavement . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2.2 Differences in pastoral care . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.3 Generalisability of results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.4 Personal emotional costs for teachers . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.5 The cost of b-plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.6 Consequences of the study and recommendations . . . . 51
6 Conclusions 53
7 References 56
Appendices 66
.1 Ethical consent form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
.2 Letter included in first contact with participants . . . . . 67

Chapter 1
Introduction
On a cold winter day in 2007 I, together with my good friend and coauthor,
handed in my bachelor thesis on bereavement responses in Danish
schools. We had up to this point spent 6 months reading existing literature
about bereavement; when we handed in the thesis I felt that I
knew everything there was to know about the subject. Unfortunately,
such pride is often challenged and the same was to happen to me. Three
months after graduation my friend and co-author lost his father. I had
read countless books on bereavement. I had interviewed people who had
had to deal with grief. Yet when my friend told me what had happened
I had no idea about what to say or how to comfort him. At that moment
and in the reflections that inevitably came later, for the first time I really
understood how difficult it can be to deal with a bereaved person. This
experience taught me that no matter how many books you have read
or how much preparation you have undertaken you cannot really understand
the burden that the helper has to carry before you have carried it
yourself. It has, in many ways, marked me and influenced me to return
to the study of bereavement. In this perspective, the burden that school
teachers have to carry as a result of having to deal with bereavement,
often without any formal education on the topic, has always seemed like
an area worthy of research.
In the work I have undertaken within the field I have found that my own
initial experience with a bereaved person was not that different from that
of many teachers. One teacher expressed her feelings in having to deal
with a bereaved student in the following way: “...the meeting with death
as a professional... What do you say? ...And is it okay to cry? ...It
was difficult very difficult to talk to Tom [the bereaved boy]” (Lytje
& Nielsen, 2007, own translation). Another teacher explained: “After
this [the bereavement] I have said that because I was able to handle
it, I can handle everything”(Ida, 2, p. 7, personal communication, own
translation). These quotes testify to the difficult nature of bereavement,
which most teachers will have to deal with throughout the course of their
3

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 4
careers. That bereavement is not uncommon amongst children can be
seen when looking at the statistics which show that more than 24,000
children under 16 lose a parent every year in the United Kingdom (Winston’s
Wish,”2011). In Denmark, with a population of only around 5.5
million inhabitants, the number is around 3,000 bereavements a year
(OmSorg,”2011). This signify that the relative frequency rate of children
having lost a parent before the age of 18 is approximately 1:29 in England
and 1:71 in Denmark (Grief Matters for Children - Call to action
briefing paper,“n.d.,”OmSorg,“2011,“Statistics Denmark,”2011).
At the same time, there is a consensus today among most researchers
(e.g. Cullberg, 2006; Dyregrov & Yule, 2008; Holland, 2001) on the severe
and life challenging effects bereavement can invoke, especially in
children. Much research has been carried out that documents these effects.
Weller, Weller, Fristad and Bowes (1991) found that a year after
being bereaved, 37% of all children surveyed were suffering from major
depressive disorders. This finding corresponds well with earlier research
by Rutter (1966), who observed that psychiatric disorders in bereaved
children were five times higher than in the normal population. Not only
are the chances of mental disorders highly increased, Balk (1981) furthermore
found that 70% of deprived children display significant changes
in study habits. This is supported in a study by Gray (1987), who likewise
established that this change was significantly higher in pupils aged
15 and under. The above research strongly indicate that not only does
bereavement in schools provide a very difficult and taxing challenge for
the teaching staff, but it also significantly impacts on the life quality of
the bereaved children.
Consequently, when looking at the issues surrounding bereavement in a
school context it becomes very important that teachers are adequately
equipped to deal with cases of bereavement. As a Danish citizen I have
found that there is a considerable difference in how English and Danish
schools approach cases of bereavement. Where today very few English
schools have any form of prepared response, 96% of all Danish schools
have a custom-made bereavement response plan (“OmSorg,” 2011, “Winston’s
Wish,” 2011). These plans are intended to bring structure to the
bereavement response efforts and to help teachers navigate the situation
under difficult circumstances (Bøge, Dige & Grønbeck, 1998). The question
nevertheless remains whether they succeed in doing so or just end
up giving the teachers a false sense of security. This thesis will examine
the different approaches which are being used in the English and Danish
schooling systems and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the
approaches as well as the strains they put on the teacher.

Chapter 2
Review of the field
This section will start by describing important terms that need to be
defined in order to understand the later discussions of this thesis. After
this, the historical understanding of death in Western society will be
discussed to give the reader an idea of the origin of some of society’s
problems in facing death. This will be followed up by a description of
the historic development of the theories of grief and their impact on
modern society. Hereafter, the Danish and English schooling systems
will be introduced and the current state of their bereavement response
systems will be described. The chapter will be concluded by a short
discussion on how the different reviews help shape a fuller understanding
of how death and grief is perceived in society and how it influences the
teacher in the work with a bereaved student.
2.1 Definitions
In this thesis certain concepts will be used to describe common phenomena
within studies on bereavement. While concepts such as grief can
seem selfexplanatory, many of these concepts have been the foundation
of long theoretical discussions within the field (Weiss, 2008). These discussions
are still ongoing but according to Stroebe, Hansson, Schut, and
Stroebe (2008), there is today some consensus in the field as to their
meanings.
2.1.1 Bereavement
Bereavement has over time been described in many different and varying
ways. Osterweis, Solomon and Green in 1984 described it as “the fact of
loss through death”(p 9). In 2008 it was described by Stroebe, Hansson,
Stroebe, and Schut as “the objective situation of having lost someone
5

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 6
significant”(p. 6) and in 2009 by Worden as “the loss to which a person
is trying to adapt”(p 17).
Interestingly enough, it is only in the first of these three definitions that
death is mentioned. Based on the wording of the two other definitions,
bereavement could as easily be something which happens through other
kinds of loss, such as divorce, relocation or illness. With this in mind,
bereavement becomes a rather broad word - too broad for this thesis.
Consequently, while this study acknowledges that bereavement can derive
from many different causes, in this thesis it will be narrowed down
to covering the loss of a close relationship through death, causing the
bereaved grief.
2.1.2 Grief and mourning
Stroebe et al. (2008) maintain that while there have been some disputes
as to whether mourning and grief are the same, today grief is considered
an independent concept. The consensus is that mourning should be seen
as the social and public display of grief occurring with bereavement and
that grief should be seen as a more personal experience of loss (Worden,
2009).
Researchers have struggled to find a good definition of grief and as such
Archer (1999) tried with the following formulation: “Grief...is the cost
we pay for being able to love in the way we do”(p 5). While this definition
succeeds in describing the nature of grief, it fails in describing the
effect. For that, the broader definition of Stroebe et al. (2008) seems better
suited. They define grief as the usual reaction to bereavement and:
“...a primarily emotional (affective) reaction to the loss of a loved one
through death. It incorporates diverse psychological (cognitive, socialbehavioural)
and physical (psychological-somatic) manifestations”(p 6).
Both Stroebe et al. (2008) and Cullberg (2006) argue that such grief
does not necessitate professional intervention, but should be seen as a
natural process.
Some researchers (e.g. Bonanno & Kaltman, 2001; Prigerson & Jacobs,
2001) further argue that grief can turn into a more severe and complicated
form. According to Stroebe et al. (2008) this is today called complicated
grief, but has through time also been known as pathological, traumatic,
unresolved and prolonged grief. Researchers are in general very careful
about using the definition “complicated grief” since it is a difficult task
to determine what constitutes a normal course of grief (Stroebe et al.,
2008). In an effort to avoid having to make such interpretations Stroebe
et al. (2008) define complicated grief as: “(a) a clinically significant
deviation from the (cultural) norm...in the time course or intensity of
specific or general symptoms of grief and/or (b) the level of impairment in
social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning” (p 7). This

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 7
definition seems quite encompassing and will be used as the definition of
complicated grief in the later chapters of this thesis.
2.2 Understanding of death in a historical
perspective
Societal understanding of death does not have a constant form and has
changed many times during the development of our society (Ariés, 1981).
While grief has changed over time, it has always been the universal human
phenomenon that is the most commonly experienced in reaction to
bereavement. Tombs, burial rituals and the pyramids today still stand
as witnesses to the different ways in which societies have dealt with grief
and these efforts can be traced back more than 500,000 years (Archer,
2008; Holland, 2001).
2.2.1 Early understanding of death
According to the historian Ariés (1981), the earliest societal understanding
of death did not perceive it as an individual drama but rather as
an ordeal for the community. Death was feared because it weakened the
community by taking away one of its members and, furthermore, it could
not be defeated. Ceremonial events came to accompany dying and this
spectacle allowed the communities to experience a semblance of control
over death. While rituals and religion helped to make death tolerable, it
was at this point not considered as something natural.
In the later part of the Middle Ages the first major change in the perception
of death appeared, with a slow shift towards the idea of a more
individualised death (Gittings, 1988). The rich and privileged had, at
that time, slowly become more aware of their own individuality and now
yearned to write their own destiny. This desire soon led to a concept of
being able to live beyond own death and become something that death
could not touch. With this, the idea of an immortal soul, long cultivated
by the clergy, was slowly adopted. However, where the cadaver
had before been exposed to everyone in the deathbed, this period saw
the beginning of the tradition of concealing the body in a coffin. This
was done in an effort to not unnecessarily frighten or upset anyone, but
it also gave rise to the taboo of death (Ariés, 1981; Gittings, 1988).
With the triumph of industrial and agricultural techniques in the 19th
century, the view of death once again changed drastically. Where the
two earlier periods had shifted between an individual and community
perspective, these ideas declined in favour of a focus on the family. With
new job functions available, the ideas of a private family simultaneously

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 8
replaced the ideas of the community and individuality. This change in
the lifestyle caused the fear of one’s own death to lose meaning and be
replaced by a fear of losing loved ones (Ariés, 1981). While the deceased
were still mourned, this was more because of their physical separation
than a belief that one would never meet the deceased again. The afterlife
was now perceived as a place where one would be reunited with loved
ones. This understanding turned death into a final beautiful obstacle
before being reunited and, for a period, removed the societal taboo of
death (Ariés, 1981).
2.2.2 Modern understanding of death
To Ariés (1981), the last major change in the societal understanding of
death appeared at the end of the 19th century. Where death had before
been understood as a beautiful reunion with loved ones, society started
to believe that the dying should be protected from the knowledge of
the seriousness of their illness. Correspondingly, rituals such as the last
communion with God were now largely abandoned. Society had at this
point made huge advances in medicine and the dying were now often
hospitalised. The medical profession, unable to conquer death, instead
tried to isolate the appearance of it to scientific laboratories and hospitals
(Ariés, 1981).
The 20th century also saw great changes in the structure of communities
and the disappearance of mourning from public view. Ariés (1981)
argues that this happened because the community started feeling less
involved in the death of its members and by now simply lacked sufficient
solidarity to care when one of them died. The community idea of the
past had been abandoned and society in a traditional sense had ceased
to exist. It had been replaced by a vast mass of atomised individuals
(Ariés, 1981). This view is supported by Jørgensen (2002), who further
emphasises that with the changes in society in the 20th century, significant
power was transferred from society to the individual. The individual
was now freed to choose his or her own lifestyle and was personally responsible
for the successes and failures that choices led to. This idea of
personal responsibility also influenced the medical sciences, which had
now become very efficient at diagnosing the specific reasons for why people
died. Death is no longer just death; it is now the result of poor genes
and an unhealthy lifestyle, all of which can be seen as the faults of the
individual (Jørgensen, 2002).
That this view on death can have some negative influences was documented
by Osterweis, Solomon and Green (1984). They found that
health professionals, now with better training and rescources than ever,
are often seen as having lost the compassion which was once the foundation
of their profession. Similarly, Kübler-Ross (1972) found that seri-

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 9
ously ill people are often treated as if they do not have their own opinion.
Jørgensen (2002) argues that the explanation for such changes is to be
found in societal understanding of death. Much to society’s regret and
even with all the scientific advances of the modern age, death can still
not be conquered. At the same time, religion, which could once offer
salvation and explanations, has lost most of its power to do so (Berger,
1999). Thus, death can seldom be blamed on the actions of otherworldly
powers. With these dilemmas in mind, Ariés (1981) inquired as to what
society can do to protect itself from the uncomfortable idea of death.
Both he and Jørgensen (2002) agree that society can only try to avoid
the topic as much as possible, and banalise death when confronted with
it. But in so doing, the taboo of death is once again brought into the
world (Ariés, 1981; Jørgensen, 2002).
What is left is a society where death has become a private affair and
public scenes of grieving are frowned upon. It is today commonplace for
children to be excluded from mourning rituals as death is perceived as
unnatural and dangerous (Holland, 2001). The same society also influences
the perception of death in the minds of school teachers and how
they feel in relation to bereavement. Consequently, many studies (e.g.
Cullinan, 1990; Reid & Dixon, 1999) show how difficult teachers find it
to talk about death and deal with bereaved children.
2.3 Main theories of bereavement and grief
Death has always played a prominent role in our society and throughout
time much effort has been undertaken in the pursuit of understanding
how bereavement and grief affect the individual. This has led to an
expansive array of literature dealing with grief. It is unfortunately not
within the scope of this essay to cover everything written; consequently,
this review will focus only on the major contributors within the field.
This should be understood as theorists who, with their publications,
managed to move the understanding of grief in a new direction. This
journey will begin in the 16th century.
2.3.1 Early understanding of grief and bereavement
One of the first important books to be published on bereavement is,
according to Archer (1999), Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, published
in 1651. In several chapters of this book, Burton discussed the
topics of bereavement and loss and how to deal with them. These recommendations
were based on knowledge gathered from literature, history
and medicine available in this period. Burton’s work is today considered

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 10
Figure 2.1: Expressions of grief by Darwin (1872)
remarkably insightful and many of the author’s thoughts on the nature
of grief would later resurface in the 20th century (Archer, 1999).
While Burton’s (1857) view on grief at that time was sophisticated, the
views of many of his colleagues were not. Mortuary bills which have
survived from the 17th century give witness to a perception of grief in
this period as being potentially fatal. In a significant number of cases
the cause of death on these bills was identified as grief (Archer, 1999).
While Burton’s contribution is considered important by Archer (1999),
other researchers (e.g. Weiss, 2008; Worden, 2009) highlight the work of
Darwin (1872) as the first significant step into a theoretical understanding
of grief. Darwin (1872) recorded the mechanisms of weeping and gave
detailed accounts of facial expressions associated with grief in children,
adult humans and social animals. Some of these expressions can be seen
in figure 2.1. Darwin further noted that grief seemed to appear in two
different and distinct forms, one active and frantic and another passive
and depressive. These distinctions have, according to Archer (1999),
been maintained in writings until now and made Darwin an important
contributor to the field of bereavement.
2.3.2 A.F. Shand and “The laws of sorrow”
The first distinctly academic text on bereavement is recognised by a majority
of researchers (e.g. Granek, 2010; Stroebe et al., 2008) to have
been authored by the British psychologist A.F. Shand (1914). Shand
wrote a book on instincts and emotions in which he referred to grief as
“the laws of sorrow”. Since no empirical research had been undertaken
into the nature of grief at that time, Shand (1914) had no other choice
than to look for alternative sources in which grief had been illustrated.
He found these sources in the poetry and literature of what he called
the “great dramatic poets of the past”, whom he regarded as expert ob-

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 11
servers of human emotions (Archer, 1999). Archer (1999) further refers
to the work of Shand (1914) as remarkable because he succeeded in describing
many factors of grief that have today become familiar elements
in the modern understanding of the concept. Shand (1914) identified
four manifestations of grief:
1. Active and aggressive towards the outside world;
2. Depressive and lacking energy;
3. Suppressed through self-control;
4. Frenzied and frantic activity.
He further described many other aspects of grief, such as the need for
social support after bereavement, the continued tie with the deceased
and the added stress caused by sudden death. Shand (1914, 1920) is
today perceived as having been far ahead of his time, which makes it
all the more unfortunate that his publications had very little impact on
later research (Granek, 2010). Archer (1999) argues that even Bowlby
(e.g. 1980a), who later acknowledged having been inspired by the work
of Shand, cited him far less than Freud.
2.3.3 Freudian contributions to grief
There is a general consensus in the field today (e.g. Archer, 2008; Holland,
2001; Jacobs, 1999) that Freud (1913, 1917) was a highly significant
contributor to the field of grief. His Mourning and Melancholia especially,
first published in 1917, was a seminal contribution and probably
the first real theory of grief. In this publication, Freud warned that if a
person suffering from grief tried to avoid dealing with it or suffered from
conflicting feelings about the bereaved, his grief could turn pathological
(Worden, 2009). Freud further expressed the belief that many psychiatric
illnesses were, in reality, different expressions of such pathological grief 1 .
As an explanation for the appearance of grief, Freud (1917) proposed that
love should be understood as an attachment of libidinal energy bound
to the mental representation of a loved one. On the death of such a
person, the libidinal energy has to be withdrawn. This process is very
difficult and can entail so much pain that the bereaved person finds it
easier to turn away from reality in a last effort to cling to a person no
longer there. While the bereaved might struggle for some time, this is a
natural and healthy process that helps the individual slowly accept what
has happened at the expense of time and energy.
According to Bonanno and Kaltman (1999), Freud developed his theory
of grief primarily upon his own experience of loss. They further highlight
1 Freuds pathological grief can be seen as an earlier description of the previously
defined complicated grief.

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 12
that Freud initially presented his ideas about grief with great caution
and personally was more concerned about explicating his own views on
depression rather than grief. Despite Freud’s initial caution, his theory of
grief became highly influential and would inspire a long line of important
researchers such as Lindemann (1944) and Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980)
(Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999).
2.3.4 The beginning of empirical research
Until the beginning of the 1940s, the world had seen very few empirical
studies on grief (Archer, 1999). This changed with Lindemann’s (1944)
publication of Symptomatology and management of acute grief. In his
daily work as a psychiatrist, Lindemann saw the problems which arose
when bereaved patients held back from working with their grief. Inspired
by the ideas of Freud (1913, 1917), he undertook 101 interviews about
grief, with the majority of patients simultaneously undergoing psychiatric
treatment. All interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed
for symptoms and changes in mental state during the process. Through
this study, Lindemann (1944) documented a wide range of symptoms for
acute grief, such as shortness of breath, loss of appetite and sexual drive,
sleep disturbances and crying.
While Archer (1999) recognises the importance of the study and how
it inspired later researchers to carry out further empirical studies on
bereavement, he argues that the methodology of the study was weak.
From a modern perspective, Lindemann’s (1944) work was sorely lacking
in both diversity of participants and applied methods during the
interviews. Archer (1999) consequently disputes the reliability and validity
of Lindemann’s study (1944). In the years following Lindemann’s
publication, little new research was undertaken and it would not be until
Bowlby started writing on the subject that the theoretical understanding
of bereavement would again undergo a major change.
2.3.5 Parkes and the professionalisation of the study
of bereavement
Working under the supervision of Bowlby was the psychiatrist Parkes,
who would become an important figure in the development of empirical
studies on bereavement (Archer, 1999). Where Bowlby was inspired by
psychoanalysis, Parkes thought grief should be examined from an empirical
perspective (Granek, 2010). This led Parkes (1964, 1965, 1972)
to undertake a long line of studies on bereavement, which, in the beginning,
were all clinical. However, he later also went on to perform some
of the first longitudinal studies based on a community sample within bereavement
studies (Parkes, 1970, 1972). Both Granek (2010) and Archer

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 13
(1999) agree that these studies laid the foundation of the beginning of a
better empirical basis for the description of grief.
Parkes’ work is, according to Granek (2010), significant for three reasons.
First of all, it provided a better rationale for the pathologisation of grief,
since he documented that many of the interviewed psychiatric patients
were, in fact, suffering from variations of grief. Secondly, Parkes (1964)
became an advocate of the need for the psychiatric profession to take grief
seriously and concluded that: “It is time that the psychology of bereavement
and the means by which help can be given to the bereaved were
made part of the medical curriculum” (Parkes, 1964, p. 279). Parkes’
third contribution was his highly sophisticated use of methods and his
description of grief based on hard empirical evidence. Parkes not only
present information on the process of grief, he also provided a thorough
description of the method he used in obtaining his data.
Furthermore, Parkes always emphasised the complexity of grief and advocated
the need for professional intervention. In his review of the field,
Granek (2010) concludes that Parkes was vital in establishing grief as
a psychological entity within the discipline. He successfully highlighted
both the problem of pathological grief and, at the same time, presented
the solution for it in the form of psychiatric intervention.
2.3.6 Bowlby and the stage theories of grief
While Parkes was approaching grief from an empirical angle, his supervisor
Bowlby was more interested in developing a theory of grief. Clearly inspired
by both Darwinian and Freudian contributions, Bowlby published
the highly influential Loss: Sadness and Depression in 1980. Based on
the ideas developed in earlier publications (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980a),
the central point of this book was that human beings are born with an
attachment behavioural system that motivates them to seek proximity
to significant others in times of need, which they do in an effort to protect
themselves and lessen stress. Such a mechanism was, according to
Bowlby, (1980b) something that was evident in all human beings but
especially intense in infants and children.
Bowlby (1980a) saw grief, similarly to Freud (1917), as the result of an
anxiety about being separated from a significant other and the wish to
restore proximity to them. However, with this person being dead, the separation
would be permanent and the restoration of proximity impossible
to reestablish. This would not stop the bereaved from trying to reestablish
or maintain the connection in the acute period of bereavement. After
some time, the bereaved person would, under normal circumstances,
slowly realise the impossibility of reconnection. This abandoning of the
goal of reconnection would, according to Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980a),
take place through a sequence of phases, emanating from protest and

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 14
Table 2.1: The four phases of grief by Bowlby
anger and leading to despair when hopes of the significant other’s return
were slowly abandoned. These four phases are described in table 2.1.
Again influenced by Freudian thoughts of relinquishing the ties to the
dead, Bowlby suggested the bonds to the deceased needed to be severed
before the bereaved could fully recover (Archer, 2008; Bowlby, 1980b).
Insisting on maintaining proximity to the dead was thought only to lead
to maladjustment and the heightening of the chance that grief would
become pathological. According to Weiss (2008), soon after Bowlby’s
first publications in the 1960s, his work started to influence other theories
of grief and would continue to do so for the next 20 years. Archer
(2008) further highlights that Bowlby’s work was the main inspiration
for later theories such as those of Kübler-Ross (1972), Freeman (1984)
and Goldberg (1981).
2.3.7 The field today
This literature review has so far detailed how the development of a theory
of grief can be traced as far back as the 16th century, whereas empirical
research on its nature is a relatively new phenomenon. According
to Archer (2008), Freud’s publications, especially that of 1917, have remained
significant inspirations for later pioneers such as Bowlby (1969,
1973, 1980a). Bowlby has also inspired many theorists into developing
stage theories of grief. While these theories have been very popular, they
have recently been criticised. This is, according to Weiss (2008), because
an invariable sequence of stages has never been empirically confirmed.
Secondly, for a stage theory to work, a course of grief should appear
in the same form in every individual, but empirical research has documented
that it does not. Consequently, Jacobsen (2009) attacks stage
theories for trying to provide helpers with an easy understanding of grief
in order to give them a false sense of security derived from an unreliable
model of grief.
While Freudian thinking persists, Granek (2010) argues that since the

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 15
publication of the first journal on bereavement, OMEGA: The Journal
for Death and Dying, studies of grief have slowly become more mainstream
and integrated into the psychological field. One indication of
this can be found in the increased interest in the invention of inventories
and instruments (e.g. Faschingbauer, Zisook, & DeVaul, 1987; Sanders,
Mauger, & Strong, 1979) to measure grief. According to Granek (2010),
this is an example of how thoughts on grief have been aligned with the
general scientific and quantitative ethos of modern psychology. With
the field finding greater acceptance, it has also expanded into looking at
many different aspects of grief. In his review, Granek (2010) has identified
several significant areas where research in relation to grief is being
performed, which are outlined below.
Grief from an empirical perspective: Both Granek (2010) and
Archer (2008) argue that the main area of research today is the study
of bereavement on an entirely empirical basis. Such studies often focus
on examining the phenomenology and measurement of grief with a focus
on scale development. Advocates of this approach are, among others,
Stroebe, Stroebe and Schut (2003), who argue that work with grief should
turn towards the increased use of accurate assessment tools. Tomita and
Kitamura (2002) have also been strong proponents for the position that
the field should increasingly employ validated and reliable instruments
in the assessment of grief.
Grief from a cognitive perspective: A significant number of researchers
have also proposed that studies of grief should be undertaken
from a cognitive point of view. This position often focuses on measuring
the “impairments” and processes of grief that develop through
bereavement. Proponents of the cognitive perspective are Cohen, Mannarino
and Staron (2006), who evaluated the outcomes for a modified 12
session protocol of cognitive-behavioural therapy for children diagnosed
with traumatic grief. Another researcher, Folkman (2001), advocated
attempting to apply the framework of cognitive stress and coping theory
to the field of bereavement.
Grief and attachment: A strong position that has likewise seen much
research is the grief and attachment perspective, which focuses on the
relationship between early life bereavement and how this affects later
development. An example of a recent study within this area is Field
(2006), who looked into children’s difficulties in detaching bonds from a
dead parent. Weiss (2001) further undertook research into the difference
in bonds between children and parents as opposed to bonds developed
to other relations.
Grief as a disease: Granek (2010) argues that a new perspective
which is already generating a lot of attention is the perception of grief
as a disease, or complicated grief. In this position, grief is seen as something
that necessitates interventions from professionals and focuses on

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 16
developing interventions and examining their efficacy. Prigerson and Jacobs
(2001) have been strong proponents of this position. They argue
that traumatic grief should be established as a clinical entity and that
standardised criteria should be developed for its measurement. Other
advocates are Shear, Frank, Houck and Reynolds (2005), who worked on
new intervention models to “cure” grief.
Minor positions: There has also been research undertaken within more
specialised areas of grief. Here, can be mentioned the areas of research
within grief as a trauma and the development of stage theories of grief.
The researchers investigating grief as a trauma have mainly been concerned
with the violent circumstances in which people die and how such
ordeals affect the grieving process of the bereaved. Some advocate of
this position are Cohen, Mannarino, Gibson, Cozza, Brymer and Murray
(2005), who have looked at the traumatic effects bereavement can induce
when it happens as part of natural disasters. While stage theories of grief
have come under attack (e.g. Jacobsen, 2007), research is still being undertaken
in this field. One example of this is Cullberg (2006), who has
developed a five stage understanding of grief based on psychodynamic
and existentialistic thoughts.
Although the studies on grief have certainly become much more mainstream
and researched in the 21st century, Stroebe (1999) emphasises
that many of the foundations upon which most research is based have
yet to be proven empirically. One of these unverified beliefs was documented
by Wortman and Silver (1989). They analysed the data backing
the idea that humans had to work through their grief in order to fully
recover. From this study they concluded that the evidence in favor of the
hypothesis was almost non-existent. There was in fact more evidence suggesting
that working through grief too early might decrease the chance of
a natural recovery. Stroebe (2010) concluded that more than a decade after
Wortman and Silver’s (1989) publication, these assumptions had still
to be proven. Another much disputed article by Jordan and Neimeyer
(2003) argued that, based on current evidence, grief counselling might
be both unnecessary and unhelpful for most bereaved people. This article
has sparked much debate in the field and researchers (e.g. Larson
& Hoyt, 2007; Shapiro & Balk, 2005) have long debated whether or not
the critiques raised by Jordan and Neimeyer (2003) have any basis.
2.4 Practice and intervention
Before moving on to the methodology, it is important to understand how
the English and Danish school systems deal with bereavement. While
both countries share the common feature that teachers receive no specific
education on bereavement, they have developed very different approaches
to handling bereaved children in their school setting (Gehlert,

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 17
2008; “Winston’s Wish,” 2011).
2.4.1 The English system
The English schooling system educates children between five and eighteen
years of age. It commonly consists of a primary school and a secondary
school as well as an option to stay a further two years in a sixth form.
The educational system can be traced as far back as 1870, when schooling
was made mandatory (Gillard, 2011). Since the introduction of the
national curriculum Act in 1992, all schools have followed a standardised
curriculum laid down by the British government. Today, there exist more
than 5,000 state schools, in which 90% of all English children receive their
fundamental education (“UK Education Systems - Education - British
Council,” 2011).
Throughout the last 20 years there has been a considerable development
in literature (e.g Brown, 1999; Rowling, 2003) aimed at helping teachers
and schools in England deal with bereavement (Tracey & Holland, 2008).
Bereavement responses in English schools have further been the focus of
several academic studies (e.g Lowton & Higginson, 2003; Thacker, Abdelnoor,
Anderson, White & Hollins, 2008). The educational psychologist
John Holland is especially prolific in this field (Holland, 1993, 2001, 2005)
Holland (1993), in his study of how schools in Hull dealt with bereavement,
found that all schools examined failed to have any kind of formalised
bereavement response. 70% of these schools reported that, at
the time of the study, they had a bereaved child in their school, and
that most teachers did not feel they were adequately trained to deal with
these students. Similar expressions of being ill-prepared for dealing with
bereavement were found in the later study carried out by Lowton and
Higginson in 2003. Furthermore, the authors found that while teachers
expressed a desire to support bereaved children, they were also worried
about causing them further distress. This fear was also found by Holland
(2001), who noted that bereaved students on many occasions reported
that they had received little or no help at all when returning to school.
Holland, in other studies (2000; Tracey & Holland, 2008) confirmed that
that while all of the schools examined attached a high priority to bereavement
response, they had very little idea about how to respond.
In an effort to help schools prepare better, the teaching package “Lost
for words” was developed and distributed to schools in Hull (Holland,
2005). In Holland’s (2005) later progress review of “Lost for words”, he
described that in 2008, 28% of Hull schools now had a formalised crisis
response plan. This number cannot be assumed to be representative, as
one cannot extrapolate conclusions from a project focused exclusively on
Hull due to the small sample size of the study. There is good reason
to believe that it is significantly lower outside Hull. Therefore, while

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 18
no national study exists, findings from small scale studies, such as Lowton
and Higginson (2003) and Tracey and Holland (2008), suggest that
the majority of English schools still approach bereavement on an ad hoc
basis.
2.4.2 The Danish system
The Danish Folkeskole 2 is a comprehensive school covering both primary
and secondary education for students aged 7-17. The mandatory school
system was established in 1840, when all children were given the right to
seven years of education. Schools are run by municipality boards which
have a high degree of freedom to set values and goals for the school. The
municipality board, however, has to stay within the boundaries of the
Folkeskole Act set down by the government. In 2010 there were 2,285
state schools in Denmark, the majority of which incorporated 9 or 10
year groups, with a teacher/student-ratio of 1:10.7 (“The Folkeskole,”
2011).
Many books have been published on how to handle bereavement from a
Scandinavian perspective (e.g. Cullberg, 2006; Dyregrov & Yule, 2008;
Jacobsen, 2007; Leick, Davidsen-Nielsen & Stoner, 1991; Weisth, 1994).
Surprisingly, the same cannot be said for studies which look into the
state of bereavement responses in Danish schools. Based on the literature
review of the field and correspondence with the National Library of
Education, there are strong indications of no such articles having been
published. Consequently, I have decided to try to piece together my
own perspective on the field by corresponding with key people and by
reviewing 40 random bereavement response plans from Danish schools.
According to Dige (personal communication), a recognised Danish expert
on child bereavement, the Danish bereavement response system began its
development in 1994. Dige and Bøge had, at this point, been working on
bereavement support groups for children since 1991. In this line of work
they came into contact with many schools, teachers and social educators
who all expressed the need for a better support system in Danish schools.
Based on these appeals, Dige and Bøge began researching the possibility
of developing a functional model to help teachers in the classroom.
They had, at this point, been working for a long time with Dyregrov (e.g.
Dyregrov & Mitchell, 1992; Dyregrov & Raundalen, 1994; Dyregrov &
Yule, 2008), and were inspired by his theories on grief intervention. At
the same time, Dige and Bøge felt that Dyregrov’s work was overly rigid
and that teachers needed to be encouraged to consider bereavement in
their own schools rather than just read a standardised text. Based on this
assumption, they developed the idea that a bereavement response plan
2 In English, literally “the people’s school” (own translation).

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 19
(b-plan) should not be standardised but individually developed by every
school. This would force the schools to carefully consider the situation
of having to deal with a bereaved child, as well as to match the b-plan
to the individual needs of the specific school.
These thoughts gave rise to the project OmSorg 3 , sponsored by the Danish
Cancer Society. The project led to a long list of publications on how
to create b-plans and support bereaved students (e.g. Bøge, 2006; Bøge
& Dige, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2005b, 2009; Bøge, Dige & Grønbeck, 1998),
which were later matched by similar publications from local authorities.
In 2011 96% of all Danish schools possess an individually crafted b-plan
(”OmSorg-handleplaner - Kræftens Bekæmpelse”, 2011).
2.4.3 Bereavement response plans
Both English and Danish schools have been seen to have b-plans or policies.
But where the vast majority of Danish schools utilize plans, only
the minority of English schools seems to do the same. As a consequence
this section will focus on explaining the more structured Danish system.
Since every Danish b-plan is supposed to be individually made by each
school, it can be difficult to summarise the exact nature of a b-plan other
than as a guide to dealing with bereavement in the school setting. Some
of the reviewed b-plans were as long as 35 pages and included a highly
detailed guide on what to do and look for in the child. Others were as
short as four pages, while a few detailed theories which the authors had
misunderstood. As can be seen in table 2.2, these plans differ greatly, but
the vast majority of them share a basic framework, in that they detail
three different scenarios: when the institution loses a child; when a child
loses a caregiver; and when the school loses a teacher. While sources
for this model are never cited, the system does seem very close to the
original model suggested by Dige, Bøge and Grønbeck (1998).
Table 2.2: Review of forty Danish bereavement response plans
3 A Danish word with a dualistic meaning, which can be understood as either
“caretaking” or “about grief” (own translation).

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 20
While every b-plan is unique, they often focus on the practical aspects of
having to respond to a case of bereavement. This often includes topics
such as who contacts the family, who is to be notified about the bereavement,
and how other students should be informed. Some of the longer
plans also include pro forma letters to parents with summaries of theories
and guides on what to be wary of in a bereaved child. 22% of the
examined b-plans included stage theories of grief and around 40% had
some kind of academic theory included in their plan. Furthermore, some
plans only concentrated on the acute period of the bereavement while
others contained long and detailed descriptions on rituals and efforts for
long term response.
These dramatic differences in the b-plans serve as both a great weakness
and strength. While some plans are very well made, others vary
in quality. Consequently, there is still an ongoing debate today on the
success of the Danish model. As can be seen in an article by Gehlert
(2008), Bøge, one of the inventors of the b-plan, personally questions the
efficiency of the plans as tools for helping bereaved children in the long
term. The hospital priest Kjær (2008) further attacks the models for
being a way of reducing the grief of people in an effort to try to mend
them with the newly developed tools and techniques of the b-plan. He
argues that, through the b-plan, the natural and individual aspects of
feeling loss are disregarded in favour of a standardised procedure. While
no studies have been undertaken on the effect of the b-plans, Lytje and
Nielsen in 2007 undertook a case-study of two institutions that suffered
a case of bereavement, only one of which had access to a b-plan. Their
findings suggest that the b-plans have some beneficial qualities and give
the staff a sense of security in an often chaotic situation.
2.5 Summary and modified understanding
When looking back at the information the three preceding reviews have
yielded, it is interesting to note that they present us with many of the
same problems. Thus, the main problem identified in the review of bereavement
responses in both Danish and English schools is that teachers
feel uncomfortable dealing with death and bereaved children. According
to Holland (2001) this fear could lead the teachers to inaction due
to apprehension. The question then naturally becomes: why are teachers,
who often show such high standards of professionalism, sometimes
failing when facing bereaved children? To this question, the reviews
of both societal death understanding and development of grief theory
give some interesting and surprisingly similar viewpoints. While Archer
(2008) claims grief is a natural phenomenon, Ariés (1981) highlights that
the manner in which it is perceived is certainly not. The way in which bereavement
deals with death is highly influenced by how society develops

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE FIELD 21
and which values are regarded as important at the time. In this aspect
the conclusion of the modern understanding of death by Ariés (1981) is
quite a negative one.
To Ariés, society has stopped caring about the bereaved and turned to
science in the hope of finding an effective defence against death. Unable
to provide this defence, science has no other choice than to try to medicalise
death and hide the dying away, blaming their demise on individual
weaknesses. With societal knowledge that death cannot be conquered
and some citizens having lost the hope of a divine will, it has no other
option than to try and ignore death, thereby, once again, rendering it
taboo. The same kind of view is found with Granek (2010), who likewise
concludes that with the transfer of pastoral care of the bereaved to the
sciences, efforts have switched to trying to measure and cure grief. The
consequence of this is that the majority of modern research sees grief as
something unwanted that should be cured with the aid of professionals.
It is through this world that teachers, untrained in bereavement response,
have to try to navigate and provide professional care for their students.
Many teachers have to do this while fighting their own fear of death, as
inherited from society. At the same time their task is made more difficult
by the experts who emphasises that grief is something that should be
cured as fast as possible. From these reviews it should be clear that
dealing with bereavement is incredibly difficult and mentally challenging
for most teachers who, often with no warning, are put in a situation
where they need to confront their own fears in order to help a student.

Chapter 3
Methodology
3.1 Introduction to the interview design
With the field of bereavement research being quite an emotional topic
there are many concerns a researcher needs to address before embarking
on a research project. While the researcher often wants a specific kind
of data it has to be obtained in way that does not violate any ethical
considerations. Furthermore, when working with teachers who are often
busy and stressed, time becomes an additional constraint for the study.
Such issues and the sensitive nature of the topic warrant a carefully
considered research design.
During this study there has been a strong focus on finding a research
tool that allows the researcher to obtain detailed data from the participant
without being obtrusive or unethical in its approach. In an effort to
obtain an instrument that would do this, it was decided to merge the techniques
of the ‘unstructured interview’ with the more uncommon ‘timeline
interview.’ In this chapter, ethical considerations and the merging of the
two interview techniques will be described followed by an evaluation of
the success of the pilot study and an account of the main study setup.
3.2 Ethical considerations
When undertaking studies on death and bereavement, ethical issues need
to be carefully considered. Stutchbury and Fox (2009) have highlighted
that when considering ethical implications it is not enough to just avoid
distressing the participant, but rather that ethics should be considered
throughout the study. To help researchers cover ethical implications in a
broader perspective, the authors have developed a framework for checking
ethical considerations throughout the research process. The framework
has been further adjusted so that it takes the considerations of the British
22

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 23
Educational Research Association (BERA) and the British Psychological
Society (BPS) into account “BERA Revised Ethical Guidelines for Educational
Research”, 2004,“Code of Ethics and Conduct”, 2009, s. 18-20;
Stutchbury & Fox, 2009).
This study has made use of the framework presented by Stutchbury and
Fox (2009) throughout the process of building a methodology in order
to ensure that both BPS and BERA guidelines are adhered to. One of
the specific measures implemented to ensure ethical responsibility was
the ethical consent form presented and explained to participants before
the interview. A copy of this form can be seen in Appendix 1. All
transcripts of interviews were also sent to the participants to give them
a chance to object to any translations they did not feel represented their
opinions. The framework also covers ethical considerations that should
be undertaken when interpreting and analysing accumulated data. This
covers areas such as how data should be presented and how conclusions
can be drawn from participant data in a responsible way.
3.3 Constructing the unstructured timeline
interview
In the following sections the creation of the unstructured timeline interview
framework will be discussed. This will happen by first introducing
the original interview types and thereafter by explaining how they have
been merged. After this explanation the objectivity, validity and generalisability
of the method will be evaluated.
3.3.1 The unstructured interview
According to Zhang and Wildemuth (2009), the unstructured interview
was originally developed within the disciplines of anthropology and sociology
as a way to bring out people’s social realities. Social realities can
be understood as the way in which the social reality of the participant is
constructed and how it differs from that of the researcher. In academia
the unstructured interview is also known as the ’informal conversational
interview’, ’in-depth interview’, ’non-standardised interview’ and ’ethnographic
interview’ (Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009). Over the last few years,
researchers have interpreted the unstructured interview in many different
ways. For example, Breakwell (2006) describes the interview form as a
method where the researcher knows what he wants to discuss but does
not have a set of predefined questions. Instead, the researcher is allowed
to develop and alter these throughout the interview. Punch and Punch
(2005) describe the unstructured interview alternatively as a method to

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 24
understand the behaviour of people without enforcing any a priori categorisation,
which might limit the field of inquiry. While these definitions
are quite different, Zhang and Wildemuth (2009) argue that there is a
general consensus about the basic characteristics of the unstructured interview.
The general consensus is that researchers should approach the interview
without a predefined list of questions. Instead, questions should be generated
throughout the interview in response to the answers given by the
participant. This has the consequence that unstructured interviews on
the same topic often end up being very different from each other. The
advantages of this method are that the researcher is often exposed to
unanticipated important themes and that the interview achieves a depth
that no other form of interview can match (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009).
However, an unstructured interview does not mean a random or chaotic
interview. The style of interview demands a high level of preparation and
detailed knowledge of the topic discussed. While strict interview guides
are not permitted in the method, there is a general agreement that the
structure of the interview can be loosely supported by a list of questions,
an aide memoire (McCann & Clark, 2005; Minichiello, Aroni, Timewell
& Alexander, 1992) . The aide memoire is different from an interview
guide in that it is a broad guide to what the interviewer hopes to cover
and not a list of predefined questions. It is also flexible and does not tell
the researcher in which order to pose questions (Zhang & Wildemuth,
2009).
Zhang and Wildemuth (2009) argue that the interviewer has a unique
position in the unstructured interview and becomes part of the research
instrument. Consequently, the success or failure of the interview depends
on the skills of the interviewer. An unstructured interview is, therefore,
much more open to interviewer effects than its counterparts (Zhang &
Wildemuth, 2009). The role of the interviewer consequently becomes
vital. Burgess (1984) suggests that if the researcher’s personal characteristics
allow for it, he should present himself as a learner or a friend
who has sympathies for the opinions of the interviewee and is willing to
try to understand them. Zhang and Wildemuth (2009) further reason
that adopting this role makes it easier to build rapport between the interviewer
and the participant and enables a deeper understanding of the
interviewee’s life.
The interview also requires that the researcher has good questioning,
probing and adjustment skills so that he can alter the interview to fit the
interviewee. Zhang and Wildemuth (2009) argue that while the interviewee
should be allowed to raise new topics and move the conversation
in directions they find important, it is still the responsibility of the interviewer
to keep the conversation focused on the researcher’s concerns.
As such, the unstructured interview is a controlled conversation based
on the interests of the researcher. It is, however, also a technique which

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 25
tries to balance the control of the interview between the two participants
(Minichiello et al., 1992).
3.3.2 The timeline interview
In a review of the origins of the timeline interview (TI), Adriansen (2011)
found that while both timelines and life lines are mentioned in the literature,
no specific articles have been published on the method. Consequently,
she decided to write an article on the technique, which has yet
to be published. Since no other sources exist, the definition of the TI will
be based on the thoughts of Adriansen (2011). The TI aims at in-depth
exploration of the views of the interviewee through the real-time creation
of a timeline. With adults usually words will be written along the timeline,
but in theory drawings might as well. The task of compiling the
timeline should ideally be shared between the researcher and participant.
The idea behind this is for them to have an equal relationship throughout
the interview and for them to co-construct the interview, rather than it
being the researcher’s construction. An example of a timeline as it looks
when it has just been completed can be seen in figure 3.1.
Ideally, the TI helps to create a coherent
story and functions as an
anchor for the conversation. It can
further be used as a map of the
interview, allowing the participant
to navigate back and forth from
important events without losing
focus. Another advantage of the
technique is that it enables access
to the thoughts and experiences
of the participant and creates a
full chronology of events. Adriansen
(2011) used the interview
technique while conducting of life
history research, but she argues
that it can easily be adopted for
other forms of research.
In her work, Adriansen has mainly
explored the whole lives of interviewees.
This study will diverge
from Adriansen’s (2005) work by
only using the TI to describe a
smaller part of the participant’s
life. The method is usually
most effective for longer interviews
Figure 3.1: A timeline as it looks directly
from an interviewl

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 26
when there is enough time for the participant to become emerged in the
storytelling. Consequently, at least an hour should be allocated for the
interview. Since the timeline interview is effective at achieving a deep
and full story, the method demands strict consideration of ethical concerns
throughout the interview as well as general experience in how to
undertake qualitative interviews. It is not uncommon for the participant
to disclose intimate information whilst telling their story, so it is
vital that the interviewer focuses on obtaining the relevant data and not
simply as much data as possible.
3.3.3 The unstructured timeline interview
Since both techniques have major advantages as well as disadvantages,
the timeline interview has been merged with the unstructured interview.
The unstructured interview is excellent at eliciting the participant’s story
and does not suffer from being constrained by a range of premade questions.
The disadvantage is, however, that the same lack of structure can
lead the interview to lose track of its original purpose and to end up being
rather chaotic. The unstructured timeline interview (TI), on the other
hand, succeeds in adding structure and an anchor to the conversation,
constructed by the participants together. Nevertheless, since very little
has been published on the TI technique, its method is rather weak.
By combining features from the TI with the unstructured interview, the
strengths of both techniques can be retained while their major weaknesses
are eliminated. One is left with a hybrid interview form that allows for
an unstructured conversation whilst retaining some structure and clarity
though the application of the timeline. In merging the features together,
a powerful technique is created. However, since it is still an entirely
qualitative method, the same weaknesses and critique which such types
of research are faced still applies. These critiques and their validity will
be discussed in the following sections.
3.3.4 Objectivity
The TI, and qualitative studies in general, have some disadvantages.
Firstly, when conducting interviews the researcher is told a story he has
no way of verifying. He cannot know if what is being told is what happened
or what the participant believed happened. This is however not
a huge problems when conducting interview that focuses on one individual’s
experiences and life-world 1 but of more concern if the researcher
is trying to document exact details of a situation trough an interview
1 “The world as it is encountered in everyday life and given in direct and immidiate
experience, independent of and prior to scientific explenations.”(Kvale & Brinkmann,
2009, p 325)

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 27
(Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009). Secondly, in all qualitative research, the
researcher plays a very active part and some opponents (e.g. Brinberg &
McGrath, 1985; Field & Morse, 1985) argue that this negatively distort
the data yielded from such methods. These two issues ultimately lead to
a question about the objectivity of qualitative methods.
With regard to the matter of objectivity, Kvale and Brinkmann (2009)
argue that whether qualitative studies can provide objective data depends
on how objectivity is defined. According to Latour (2000), one
way of interpreting objectivity is: “as the scientist allowing the object
to object”(p 115). Another definition proposed by MacIntyre (1966) is
to view objectivity as a moral concept rather than a methodological one
based on the ethics and behaviour of the researcher. According to both
points of view, most qualitative studies, following standard ethical guidelines,
can be perceived as objective. However, if the term is seen in a
more positivistic way as: “the freedom from any bias”, qualitative studies
might struggle to meet the criteria and even quantitative studies might
have great difficulty in passing for objective.
Gadamer suggests that whenever an individual attempts to study something
it will inevitably be understood in light of earlier experiences and
personal worldview (Weinsheimer, 1985). No matter what precautions
are taken, the thoughts and worldview of the individual will always influence
how results are perceived. The individual simply needs these
preconceptions and a fundamental understanding of the world in which
the object exists to be able to study it in the first instance. Such preconceptions
are inevitable and always influence the researcher, and therefore
must simply be accepted and taken into consideration. If this explanation
of objectivity is accepted then neither qualitative nor quantitative studies
will ever be completely free of bias. Consequently, Kvale and Brinkmann
(2009) argue that, depending on how objectivity is perceived and from
which scientific position, qualitative studies can indeed be perceived as
objective.
3.3.5 Validity
Another question also worthy of consideration when using a qualitative
technique is whether the method can be considered valid. Proponents of
quantitative approaches have, according to Golafshani (2003), frequently
attacked qualitative research for having no standardised method of validation.
The response to this by prominent qualitative researchers like
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) and Brinberg and McGrath (1985) is that
’validity’ is not a commodity that can be purchased by techniques but
should be seen as a fluid entity consisting of the character, method, reasons
and goals of the researcher. From this perspective, validity to Kvale
and Brinkmann (2009) is craftsmanship. It does not belong to a cer-

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 28
tain part of the research process but should permeate the entire course
of the research. Validity becomes the process of checking the study for
sources of invalidity throughout the research process. To protect studies
from invalidity, Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) have invented a seven point
framework which can be used to check for potential causes of invalidity.
This framework has been used throughout the process of this thesis as a
safeguard for the validity of the study (table 3.1).
Table 3.1: Validation of qualitative studies by Kvale and Brinkmann
(2009)
3.3.6 Generalisability
This study is based on interviews with two teachers explaining how they
coped with a bereaved student. Consequently, all conclusions presented
in the results chapter will be based on these two interviews. There
has been much debate in the field (e.g. Field & Morse, 1985; Kvale &
Brinkmann, 2009; Rolfe, 2006) over whether such research can be used
to make any form of generalisations. Field and Morse (1985) have maintained
that generalisability can only be attained if the researcher follows
a strict series of verification strategies in the research process. They see
the qualitative methodology as lacking such structure and suggest that
the only way for it to gain credibility is for qualitative researchers to
adopt the concepts and terminology of positivist research.
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) highly dispute this viewpoint and argue
that generalisation can be understood in many ways other than that of
the positivist viewpoint. One form of generalisability is call “analytical
generalisation”. The authors claim that the researcher can make generalisations
based on his knowledge of the individual case and the larger field.
By specifying supporting evidence and making explicit arguments about
the generalisability of his evidence, the researcher enables the reader to
judge the soundness of the claims. As such, while this study is based
on qualitative techniques, conclusions will not be able to be generalised
universally but they will be able to suggest issues that might exist in
other schools based on the concept of analytical generalisation.

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 29
3.4 Pilot study
Given the choice of opting for a previously untested hybrid interview,
a pilot study was deemed necessary for this thesis. According to Van
Teijlingen and Hundley (2001), the term ‘pilot study’ refers to the conduction
of a mini version of a full-scale study as well as the pretesting
of a particular research instrument. The same authors argue that pilot
studies are a crucial element of good study designs since they decrease
the chance of encountering unidentified problems later in the main study.
While the lack of pilot studies has been criticised in the literature (e.g.
Lancaster, Dodd, & Williamson, 2004; Prescott & Soeken, 1989), the
way in which they are used has also been questioned. Van Teijlingen and
Hundley (2001) reason that far too many studies state that their questionnaires
were tested without explaining how they were tested and what
was learned from the pilot study. The authors find this is a shame, since
these experiences might be very helpful for other researchers embarking
on similar studies. They argue that: “...everybody needs pilot studies,
not just their own, but also those of other researchers in the field. Welldesigned
and well-conducted pilot studies can inform us about the best
research process and occasionally about likely outcomes” (Van Teijlingen,
Rennie, Hundley, & Graham, 2001, para. 17).
Experiences from the pilot study
Based on the above argumentation and a wish to test the efficiency of
the interview technique, a pilot study was undertaken. The school was
contacted in the same way as the schools in the main study and the
interview set up in the same way. The pilot study also followed the same
ethical guidelines and approach to the teacher as the main study. The
interview lasted for approximately one and a half hours and was audio
recorded. The interview technique was a succes. The unstructured form
allowed the teacher to focus on remembering the story without constant
topic changes, thereby allowing depth in the interview. The timeline
allowed the researcher to move back and forth from different events quite
effortlessly and therefore helped to give an overview to the interview.
At the same time, the interview flowed so well that there was never any
need to consult the aide memoire. There were, however, some things
that called for reconsideration in the methodology.
Firstly, contact with the teacher had been mediated by the headmaster
of the school. While this was not initially seen as a problem, one issue
did occur when meeting the teacher for the interview. It was discovered
that the teacher had not received all the papers that had been sent to
the headmaster and was therefore quite confused about the topic of the
study. While it was only in the pilot study that the appointment was

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 30
arranged through the headmaster rather than the teachers themselves,
other researchers should be mindful of this issue when not arranging
interviews directly with the participant.
At the beginning of the interview, the timeline was presented and the
participant invited to help create it. The participant, however, did not
add anything, leaving this job to the interviewer. On reflection, it was
decided to spend more time at the beginning of subsequent interviews
explaining the interview technique and encouraging the interviewee to
participate. Also of note was the issue that when the interview was
thought to have ended and the audio recorder had been turned off, the
interviewer suddenly remembered quite a few things. This resulted in
a failure to record the entire interview, which continued for 30 minutes
after the recorder had been turned off. In the main interviews, the audio
recorder will not be turned off before the researcher leaves the room. At
the time of the pilot study, Adriansen’s (2011) article had not been made
available and her warning about the amount of time that is required for
the timeline interview was thus not heard. Adriansen (2011) writes that
at least 60 minutes should be made available for the interview to be
effective and this was confirmed in the pilot study.
3.5 Main Study
3.5.1 Participants
As mentioned above, the focus of this thesis is on achieving depth rather
than generalisability. Consequently, focus was placed on obtaining two
deep and detailed interviews. Some criteria were specified before schools
were contacted in order to ensure that they could meaningfully be compared.
Firstly, only state schools were approached in both countries.
This was done in order to ensure that the participating schools did not
differ vastly in budgets, education of teachers or class sizes. As an example,
some independent schools might hire uneducated teachers. Secondly,
since Danish schools generally are much smaller than their English counterparts,
efforts were made to find schools of roughly the same size. For
instance, the headmaster might teach classes and know every student in
a Danish school with 100 students, whereas the administration is often
quite separated in larger schools.
Since the Danish interview was perceived as the most difficult to undertake
because of the transportation requirements, it was the first to be
planned. Finding a participant was unexpectedly easy, as the first school
approached had a teacher willing to participate. It should, however, be
mentioned that the school contacted was the same school I had personally
attended roughly 12 years ago. So, while the interview should not be

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 31
considered as an “insider interview” (Breakwell, 2006), this fact might
have assisted in opening some doors. After a few emails and a telephone
conversation, the meeting was arranged and the interview completed at
the beginning of April 2011.
Given on the ease of finding a Danish teacher willing to participate,
it was assumed that identifying an English teacher would be of similar
difficulty. This turned out to be an erroneous assumption. Finding an
English teacher willing to participate was a long and arduous process.
In the beginning, only three letters were sent out, since it had been
deemed unethical to reject teachers willing to discuss the difficult topic
of bereavement. While one teacher responded, she wanted to talk about
a bereavement which had happened in Ireland. Since this did not match
the case description, she had to be discarded. In the next months the
search process was gradually expanded, from only approaching a few
schools at a time to contacting between five and 10 schools at a time.
This contact was both by email and telephone, but when telephoning I
was always asked to send an email and these were rarely responded to.
Often, even the reminder letters suffered the same fate.
A teacher was eventually found at the end of May from a school that
matched the search criteria with a case that shared many similarities
with its Danish counterpart. In the following weeks, quite a few other
teachers responded positively to participating in the study but at this
time the data gathering process had closed due to the time requirements
of the study. Once a teacher showed interest, they were informed about
the details of the interview by email. Here they were informed about
the nature of the study, its methodology and ethical framework in an
enclosed letter, which can be seen in appendix 2. They were further
allowed to ask questions about the study, either via email or phone, as
they preferred. If the teacher was still willing to participate a date for
an interview was arranged. Data on the two participants can be seen in
table 3.2.
3.5.2 Cases
Table 3.2: Participants
In the Danish case, an 11-12 year old girl was bereaved from her father
when he committed suicide approximately four years ago. In the English

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 32
case, a 16-17 year old boy was bereaved from his mother when she committed
suicide a year ago. The two cases presented have some striking
similarities but also some differences. They were alike in the way that
both cases covered a student who had lost a parent to suicide. This was
considered a major advantage since it would give a very good overview
of how two different school systems approached dealing with a bereaved
student under nearly the exact same circumstances. Secondly, both cases
occurred in state schools and this makes them as close as possible to being
similar school types, when considering that the thesis is looking at
cases in two different countries. Lastly, both schools had planned approaches
available to the teachers. There is, however, some difference in
the age of the two bereaved students. This was initially a strong point
of concern.
Nevertheless, when looking at how the Danish Folkeskole deals with bereavement
through b-plans, they would have used the same plan in dealing
with a 17 year old student as dealing with an 11-12 year old student.
The English teacher Liz also confirmed that the school had the same
policy for all their students and that bereavement was approached in
a similar way in the upper school and the lower school (personal communication).
Consequently, both schools have the same procedures for
students between 11 and 17. While the procedures are the same, the
individual actions taken by teachers might differentiate based on the age
difference. This will be taken into account in the later discussion of the
approaches.
Another circumstance that makes the cases very similar is that neither
teacher had had a lot of previous contact with the bereaved student. In
the Danish case the teacher, Ida, had only been with the class for a few
months and in the English case the student had only been at the school
for roughly half a year. While these are different circumstances, they are
likely to influence the cases in the same way, in the sense that the bond
between teacher and student had not had years to develop. Another
difference between the two schools was that, while the Danish school
had both female and male students, the English school only had boys.
However, the school was still a state founded school and thereby governed
by the same overall rules as any other unisex state school. Furthermore,
the participating teacher had taught both girls and boys previously so
the gender difference was not thought to be a major issue for this study.
3.5.3 Procedure
While an unstructured interview is inherently unstructured, an overall
agenda was followed for the meetings. The agenda had the following
points:
• Introduction

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 33
The researcher presented himself, and time for small talk was allowed
to ease the atmosphere.
• Introduction to the study
The study was described once more, together with an explanation
of its rationale, benefits and scope.
• Explanation of ethical considerations and the rights of the
participant
The participants were once again reminded that they had the right
to leave the study at any time. A brief explanation of how the study
might affect them was given and the recommendation that they had
someone to talk to after the interview was repeated. After this, an
ethical consent form was provided for the participant to sign.
• Explanation of the interview method
Based on feedback from the pilot study, this point was added to the
agenda. Here the interview method was explained and the participant
invited to help draw the timeline.
• The interview
The full interview then followed.
• Closing remarks
At the end of the interview, the aide memoire was consulted to
ensure the basic topics had been covered and the participants were
allowed to add anything they thought might be missing from the
interview.
• Review of the interview
Before adjourning the meeting participants were asked if they had
any comments or objections about the way the interview had been
undertaken.
While an aide memoire had been constructed it was never used in the interviews,
since the conversation flowed well. All interviews were recorded
on audio.
3.5.4 Setting
All interviews were undertaken in the schools of the teachers. This was
done both so that the teachers would feel comfortable in a familiar setting
and to make it more convenient for them. Interviews were always held
in an empty room, without any other staff members present, to ensure
complete confidentiality and allow the participants to become immersed
in the conversation.

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 34
Figure 3.2: Seating plan
Another important detail was that the interviewee was not positioned
opposite the interviewer. This was done in order to better invite the
participant to co-construct the time line. As can be seen in figure 3.2,
seating happened at a corner. While making it easier to collaborate on
the paper, this seating plan also helped the interview feel less confrontational
and more collegial, like two people working together.
3.5.5 Data preparation
The data was originally recorded on audio and written down on a piece of
paper in the form of the timeline. The audio recordings were then transcribed,
while the timeline was transformed into a computerised copy
with Microsoft Office Publisher. While transforming the timeline it was
decided to alter it from its original vertical form into a horizontal form.
This was done to compress the time-line and to make the length and
density of the responses easier to compare. The transcribed interviews
were sometimes used to help improve the wording or clarify events depicted
in the timeline. As suggested by Stutchbury and Fox (2009), a
copy of the transcript was sent to the participating teachers for their
approval and for the addition of any comments they felt necessary. In
instances where an answer remained unclear these were also followed up
in the letter. When the participants had confirmed that the transcription
matched their views, the data was considered ready for presentation.
The method used to analyse the data was inspired by the framework used
by Lowton and Higginson (2003) as well as the methodological suggestions
of Taylor and Bogdan (1998), who suggest:
1. Read and reread your data;

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 35
2. Keep track of hunches, interpretations and ideas;
3. Look for emerging themes.
While the Danish interview has been analysed in Danish, all quotes used
in this thesis have been translated into English for ease of access purposes.

Chapter 4
Results
This chapter will introduce the findings of this study. The Danish case
details four years of interventions, while the British case only details
one year. For a more balanced description of the differences in how the
two cases were handled, only the first year after the bereavement will
be described in the sections on acute and long term response. Based on
findings from the cases, several themes which occurred throughout the
interviews will then be discussed in more depth. In these thematic sections,
events described in the Danish case that go beyond the first year
will also be included when they can help highlight differences and similarities
between the two systems. In order to help the reader to navigate
around the events, the two timelines have been included. They can be
seen in figure 4.1 and 4.2 and can with advantage be used as a reference
point when reading through the findings and discussion chapters.
36

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 37
Week 1
Week 2
Week 6
Week 7
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Friday
Saturday &
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Thursday
Friday
Week 8 Monday
12 months later
24 months later
30 months later
Today
Case 1: A Danish course of bereavement
Initiating participant: Class teacher Ida Bereaved student/Family External support
A girl is bereaved from her dad.
The class teacher is informed by another parent about the death of the father.
The class teaching team informed about the event by the class teacher.
In the afternoon the class teacher calls the mother of the bereaved child, to ask her
what she would like the school to do for her.
The following morning letters are send to all parents of the class notifying them about
the bereavement.
Classmates are informed about the bereavement by the class teacher in the first session
of school and students are given time to ask questions. After this normal schedule
continues with the class teacher staying as an extra resource.
Class teacher is notified about when the funeral will happen.
By her own request the girl returns to the school the visit her classmates and end up
staying for the whole day.
The class teacher reads up on bereavement by using recommendations for the bereavement
response plan. All books are available from the school.
10 teachers including the headmaster attend the funeral with permission from the
mother. The class teacher has a strong emotional reaction.
The class teacher gets the day off. Is visited by the school councillor. Mother calls
class teacher and inform her when the bereaved girl will return to school.
The girl returns, ordinary schema
On a Friday before a holiday the bereaved girl breaks down. She was supposed to
have been on a vacation with her father. The class teacher drives the girl home and
when talking to the mother discovers that she is also having an emotional breakdown.
The teacher calls in specialist help.
A specialist team of psychologists is with the family the whole weak.
The teacher is invited to a meeting with the psychologist team, discussing how she can
best help. The girl returns to school, now with weekly meetings with a psychologist.
On the day of the fathers death the girl breaks down crying and isolates herself in the
following days. After some time she gets back to normal. At this time the girl no
longer sees any counselling service.
The girl once again starts to isolate herself from other people when the day of the father’s
death gets close. The class teacher contacts the girl’s mother who denies that
anything is wrong. The class teacher consequently asks the local authorities to intervene.
They succeed in getting the mother to accept there is a problem but because of
the severity of the girl’s problems she is admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
The girl returns to class. The hospital has labelled her as cured. No further help is offered
to her from the local authorities. Girl thanks the class teacher for having
stepped in 6 months before.
Girl is very fragile and has started to isolate herself more and more. The Class teacher
is worried that she might “loose” her again. Local authorities have finally agreed she
might need more help.
Figure 4.1: Bereavement response in the Danish school

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 38
Figure 4.2: Bereavement response in the English school

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 39
4.1 Acute response - the first two weeks
In the Danish case, the immediate response to the bereavement was very
structured. After being notified of the father’s suicide, the class teacher,
Ida, contacted the principal. She was here instructed to meet with her
teaching team, consisting of the two other teachers who work closely with
the class. In this meeting, Ida, as class teacher, took full responsibility for
dealing with the student and her family. The secretary also participated,
bringing with her the school bereavement response plan (b-plan), which
was followed closely for the next two weeks before the burial. After
the meeting was adjourned, the mother to the bereaved student was
telephoned and informed about the help the school could offer. This
included notifying classmates and their families about the bereavement
as well as offering to make counselling appointments for the student. The
mother accepted the help and asked the teacher to inform both students
and parents about the bereavement. It was further agreed that the girl
would stay at home until her father was buried; the mother promised to
inform Ida when she knew the date of the funeral.
The next morning an email was sent out to all parents informing them
about the bereavement and encouraging parents to discuss it with their
children. Furthermore, Ida attended the first session of school and informed
the girl’s class about what had happened. Students were not told
the cause of death, but were encouraged to ask any questions they had
about bereavement or death. In the middle of the week, there was a general
staff meeting for the whole school where all teachers were informed
about what had happened and how the school would be responding to it.
On the Friday of the first week, the bereaved student called Ida to ask if
she could visit her class. She was invited to do so and ended up staying
for the whole day, but did not otherwise return until after the burial. At
the beginning of the second week, the father was buried. The principal,
Ida and eight other teachers attended to show their support. Three days
later, the child returned to school. Nothing special was done to welcome
her back.
The English case was handled differently. Here the head of sixth form
received a call from the bereaved student’s father explaining what had
happened. He was informed that the student had already returned to
school and wanted to carry on as normal. In accordance with this wish,
the school chose not to approach the boy in the initial week. Instead,
the teachers who taught the student were notified via email about the
student’s loss and were asked to watch over the student. The school chose
not inform the class of what had happened, feeling this should be left for
the boy to do if he wanted his peers to know. In the second week, the
funeral was held; no teachers attended. The boy was invited to a talk
with the head of sixth form after the event. Here the student conveyed
that he was fine and did not need any help in dealing with the suicide.

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 40
This wish was accepted by the school and nothing further was done in
the initial two weeks.
4.2 Long term response
The efforts of the Danish and English schools became more similar in the
weeks after the burial. In both cases, what was done to help the student
after the burial seemed to be influenced more by the individual efforts of
the teachers rather than any formalised approach.
Ida found that the b-plan lost most of its value soon after the funeral.
The guide only covered events until the burial; after this, it only had a few
minor suggestions on what to do and look out for. These included how
to work with grief as a class and instructions on what kind of emotional
reactions to look for in the student. Consequently, the manner in which
to handle the bereavement was now moreleft up to Ida to determine.
During one of the following weeks, she visited the family of the bereaved
student and continued to check on her wellbeing in school. Later in the
year, when the class was to have a course in Christianity, Ida adapted
this to look at bereavement. Among other initiatives, she invited a priest
to talk in class about burial ceremonies and how death is dealt with
in the community. These lessons allowed the student and her class to
openly discuss death and bereavement. It was positively received by the
bereaved student, who realised that many of her classmates had also had
to deal with bereavements from significant others.
The British teacher, Liz, similarly felt the bereavement response defused
after the first two weeks and became more dependent on the actions of
the individual teachers than any official school protocol. As opposed to
the Danish system, the responsibility of helping the bereaved student
was not assigned to one particular teacher but shared by all the teachers
who came into contact with the student. Liz disclosed that she had had
some conversations with the boy about how he was doing. He always
said he was fine and therefore nothing more was done. Liz later began
seeing signs of the student struggling to cope but no efforts were initiated
to help him based on her suspicions. The English school did, however,
inform the exam board about the student’s situation and offered him
extra academic support. This was done to ensure that the bereavement
would have little impact on his grades.

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 41
4.3 Themes
4.3.1 Interaction with student and family
The way in which the initial contact with the bereaved was undertaken
was quite different in the two cases. In the English case, the father called
the head of sixth form and declined any offer of support. The school
adhered to this wish, the father was not contacted again and nothing
further was done to help the bereaved student in the first week. Liz
explained:
It was the way his family were [sic] dealing with it...[the bereavement]
was their business and not ours... Perhaps also
the nature of what happened [the suicide] and we don’t need
all the details and I don’t think we need to really (Liz).
In the second week the boy was called in to a conversation with the
head of sixth form where he was asked if the school could do anything to
support him. Liz commented: “[He] asked to see the boy and sat down
and had a chat. ‘Is there anything we can do really?’ He said he was fine”
(Liz). Except for occasional inquiries into the boy’s wellbeing by different
teachers, no further support was offered after the initial conversation.
The school did, however, make sure to notify the board of examiners
about the bereavement so that the board could take it into considerations
when grading the student’s work.
Months later, during her review of the bereaved student’s work, Liz discovered
indications that the student might not be dealing with his grief
in a constructive way. She did not, however, act on this suspicion. She
commented on her dilemma in the interview:
In view of reading his essay and what has probably been
shown now he has probably used gaming as a defence mechanism
and I suspect grief will show itself possibly later in
later life or as an adult...I just think we felt fairly helpless
as a school because there was nothing he would allow us to
do basically... when they are 17 and 18 years of age they
very often need the support of a child in many ways but are
adults in numbers and have the ability to make quite informed
choices. Perhaps we should trust them enough to make informed
choices but on the other hand they are still children
in our care...and it is a dilemma a massive dilemma we have
struggled with here (Liz).
Ida, by contrast, explained to the bereaved mother how the school could
help her. While on the telephone with the mother, Ida had the b-plan,
which outlines a list of questions that should be asked. This made her
aware of which topics she needed to cover in the conversation and what

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 42
sort of help the school could offer. At the end of the conversation, a
follow-up telephone call was arranged for a time when the mother had
more details on the burial. Following this conversation, Ida took full
responsibility for all contact between school and home.
One particular difference between the two systems is how they dealt with
the wishes of the families. Where the English school accepted the father’s
wish to not interfere in the bereavement, the Danish school seemed to act
more independently when the student appeared to be in need of extra
support. This is illustrated in Ida’s description of her actions after her
student had an emotional breakdown in the class two years after the
bereavement:
I contact the mother and she is initially very dismissive of me
and says, “It’s just you who are seeing ghosts”. I said, “But I
feel and I see these things”. She would not listen to this ...So
I said, “Well, then I am forced to do something completely
different and that is to inform the social authorities that you
do not want to cooperate with me and then it’s out of my
hands”. Well I could just do so she told me and that was
what I did (Ida).
As a result of this, the Educational Psychological counselling service 1
was asked to intervene. They convinced the mother that her child needed
help. The girl was eventually sent to a mental hospital for half a year.
When she returned, she requested a meeting with Ida: “She wants to
have the opportunity to tell me that she is glad that I acted against her
mother’s will [pause] that she is sure she will always talk to me” (Ida).
4.3.2 Division of responsibility
In Denmark, the full responsibility for initiating and maintaining the
bereavement response is given to the class teacher. She received support
from the school administration and colleagues but the responsibility was
hers. She commented on this:
It’s the system we have in Denmark, when situations like this
happen it is the primary class teacher’s responsibility to deal
with... I would preferably do it all myself... There have to be
as few people in contact with the family as possible so they
only have to deal with one representative of the school (Ida).
In the English school, the burden of responsibility is shared between the
staff. While the head of sixth form was responsible for the interaction
1 A local government unit that deals with cases that need psychological or pedagogical
intervention. While not stationed at the school, they can be called in when
the school needs extra support to deal with difficult cases.

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 43
with the father, it was also the responsibility of the teachers to deal with
the student on a day-to-day basis. Liz explained:
...there are certain parts...there are certain stages that are
very consistent but the individual personal response is not...
[after the initial focus helping efforts] defuses and dissolves
somewhat and the focus disappears a bit... ultimately as
teachers we are all very busy and perhaps if I have to be
really harsh about it I guess there is some times a collective
sigh of relief [when the family declines school involvement]
and people think, “Right, they are dealing with it themselves”
(Liz).
4.3.3 Burden on the individual teacher
The teachers in both schools reported that dealing with bereaved students
was emotionally distressing and that they had met colleagues who were
not able cope with it. Liz said that she had learned to deal with it and
explained:
I think when I first started teaching it was incredibly tough
and it still does upset me and I find it really sad, it’s hard for
the students whom I teach. But at the end of the day [pause]
it’s a job after all, you know (Liz).
While Ida highlighted that she had received broad support from colleagues
and the administration, she still expressed that being the person
in charge had been emotionally taxing. This added stress culminated in
an emotional reaction at the funeral.
Yes what I think happens is that when you sit in church and
the priest starts talking about him, it was like the first time
I allowed my brain time to think what the hell is it that
just that has happened the last 6 to 7 days ... I was severely
distressed when we were done inside the church... I continued
crying until he was lying in the ground (Ida).
After the funeral, the principal took Ida home for a coffee and asked if
she would like to have the following day off. Ida agreed to this and was
also approached by the school psychologist, who offered to visit her on
her day off. She accepted this as an opportunity to clear her head and
reflect on how the bereavement had affected her before returning to work.

Chapter 5
Discussion
This chapter will begin by evaluating the success of the applied method.
This is followed up by a discussion of the differences between the two
cases and what might have caused these. After having addressed these
variations, the study’s findings will be compared with the findings of
earlier research undertaken in the field. This is done in order to examine
whether the findings of this study might be generalisable. Lastly, the
consequences of the findings and suggestions for further research will be
discussed.
5.1 Evaluation of Method
It has been fascinating to use the unstructured timeline interview. In
general, the method was found to be very powerful in encouraging the
participants to immerse themselves in the storytelling and outline a whole
story. The timelines emerged as a revealing visual expression of the differences
between the two systems and were able to function as a summary
of both interviews. While the timeline succeeded in describing the overall
response, the unstructured approach to the conversation secured a
highly detailed and rich story. Consequently, the unstructured timeline
interview is considered to have been a success.
Conversely, there are always aspects of the methodology that could be
improved. As was discovered in the pilot study, it was again very difficult
to get the participant to help write down the timeline. This job was
usually left for the interviewer, while the timeline itself was used by the
participant as an anchor and a tool for jumping back and forth between
events. In hindsight, the unfamiliarity of the method is probably to
blame. Going into an interview, the interviewee would probably have
expected to play the role of respondent rather than having to do some of
the writing themselves. While the interview did not suffer as a result of
the interviewer having to plot everything on the timeline, it would have
44

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 45
been interesting to experience how the interview would have differed if the
timeline had been co-constructed. If the method were to be used again,
it would be highly recommendable to spend more time introducing the
method to the interviewee and perhaps even to encurage them to write
the first sentences on the timeline.
5.2 Differences between the two systems
5.2.1 Handling a case of bereavement
On inspection of the two timelines, it is easy to see the difference in complexity
of the two cases. Furthermore, it is clear when reading through
the thematic section of the results that the Danish system seemed to
have a more thorough procedure than its English counterpart. The first
major difference appeared in the initial contact with the family. The
Danish teacher, Ida, in her telephone conversation managed to convey
what kind of help the school could offer both to the family and student
and arranged a follow-up conversation with the mother. In its first contact
with the bereaved father, the English school asked what they could
do to help the family. The family declined any form of help, after which
little else was done to help the student or the family.
With the knowledge that both bereavements were suicides, psychological
theory (e.g. Cullberg, 2006) suggests that it is highly likely that
both families were in a state of shock at the time of the conversations.
Both Engel (1961) and Cullberg (2006) warn that attempting to convey
any important information or ask a person in a state of shock to
make decisions should be avoided, as they will not be thinking logically
or clearheadedly under such circumstances. The family will in this state
hardly be able to express what kind of help they need. Extending a range
of offers, as in the Danish case, consequently seemed to be a better option
than asking the family what to do. Furthermore, it was commendable
to arrange a second conversation with the family. It is possible that the
English family simply rejected the initial help because they were in a
state of shock and simply could not cope with having the school interfere
at that moment. They might have been more willing to accept help if
they had had time to accept what had happened and how they felt about
the bereavement. The initial response to bereavement can resemble that
of a cyclist who has just crashed his bike and nevertheless hurries to his
feet, saying he is fine before having had time to feel whether he has any
injuries.
As was seen in the previous chapter, there was a large difference in the
initial response of the two schools. While the Danish school seemed to
approach the bereavement in a structured way based on the recommen-

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 46
dations of the b-plan, the English response seemed much less structured.
The British teachers who were in contact with the student were made
aware of the bereavement but at the same time the school completely
adhered to the family’s wish and did not interfere. The consequences
were that the student’s class was not informed about the bereavement
and disclosure was left up to him. Holland (2008) explicitly warns that
not notifying classmates often only makes things more difficult for the
bereaved. He found that the pity of fellow classmates, in combination
with their insecurity about how to deal with the student, often leads to
the bereaved feeling isolated and different (Holland, 2001). Naierman
(1997) further argues that it is very helpful for the bereaved if the class
has been prepared for the student’s return and how to respond appropriately
to him. Of course, in the British case, informing the class early
would have been impossible since the student was already back in school
before staff were made aware of what had happened. Nevertheless, having
approached the student on the day he returned to school and offered
him help would probably have been recommendable. The student might
have wished to carry on as normal but evidence suggests that this is
nearly impossible after having lost a parent (e.g. Dyregrov & Yule, 2008;
Holland, 2008).
With the Danish b-plan only thoroughly covering the first two weeks,
the responsibility for dealing with the bereaved students often fell to
the individual judgments of the teachers. One difference was that only
one teacher was responsible for helping the student in Denmark, where
everyone was supposed to watch over the student in England. This caused
the Danish teacher to know that if she did not react, no one else would.
The English teachers could, by contrast, always hope someone else was
taking care of the bereaved student. This frame of mind was probably
made even easier by the student declining any form of help.
One aspect where the English school did manage to provide better support
than its Danish counterpart was in the area of academic support.
Exam boards were notified and academic support was offered in the English
school; nothing similar was described to have been offered to the
Danish student. In some aspects, it is as if the Danish system was so focused
on the pastoral side of their support that they forgot the academic
aspect of it. It could, however, also be argued that until the student
has dealt with the bereavement on a personal level, it always interfere
with her work. Evidence to support this hypothesis was presented in the
introduction. The Danish school could learn a valuable lesson from this
part of the English response. It seems to be a very sensible choice to
report the bereavement to the exam board, especially when dealing with
older students.

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 47
5.2.2 Differences in pastoral care
Major differentiations also appeared when assessing how pastoral care
was addressed in the two schools. It can be considered problematic
that the bereavement response was not better coordinated in the English
school. Aside from the initial conversation, it was largely left to the
uncoordinated efforts of the individual teachers.
As the English teacher, Liz, commented, the bereaved often feels guilt,
shame, and social stigmatisation, a suggestion that is supported by Hawton
and Simkin (2003) in cases of suicide. Stroebe, Schut and Stroebe
(2005) further argue that it is in such cases of grief that the bereaved
can especially benefit from professional grief interventions. In this specific
case, however, Liz argued that the reason for not repeatedly offering
help to the boy was that he did not wish to receive any help. As exemplified
in the literature review Jordan and Neimeyer (2003) support the
position that mourners do not necessarily benefit from grief intervention
if they do not feel ready for it. Studies show (e.g. Kato & Mann, 1999;
Neimeyer, 2000) that if the bereaved does not wish to deal with the grief
then nothing good will come from forcing him to do so. Consequently,
deciding whether the English teachers did the right thing depends on
what scientific position is supported.
The dilemma of how to help a student that has declined support ultimately
paralyses the English teacher in her response. In contrast, the
contact between Ida and her student seemed more consistent. Her relationship
was, of course, made easier by the fact that the her student
did not reject the proffered support outright. However, when the family
later rejected intervention, Ida ended up disregarding this wish in order
to provide the student with support. It sometimes may be in the best
interest of the child if teachers are encouraged to deal with the bereavement,
even if that comes at the cost of invading the family’s privacy. This
is a decision where every teacher needs to weigh the costs and benefits
and it is not easy to make. It could, however, be argued that a boy who
showed signs of not coping properly with his bereavement in the English
case was not given sufficient help.
This is not a critique of the English teacher, who in this study was very
reflective about the weaknesses and problems in the school response,
but rather a critique of the system. William (2000) has argued that
the British educational system today is extremely focused on academic
achievement. With this focus in mind, it seems like pastoral care has been
deprioritised. The more time teachers spend on academic achievement,
the less time they have for pastoral care. Furthermore, if no practical
procedure exists to guide the teachers through the bereavement and with
most of them having had no training on the topic, a coherent and structured
response seems too much to expect.

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 48
5.3 Generalisability of results
In trying to generalise the findings of this study, it has been difficult to
locate any studies evaluating the way teachers deal with bereavement
in Denmark, except from Lytje and Nielsen (2007). Undertaking two
case studies, the authors discovered that Danish teachers considered it
very difficult and distressing to deal with bereaved children. The teachers
also felt that having a b-plan was very comforting in the initial phase and
reported that it helped to better coordinate the bereavement response.
In England, publications by Lowton and Higginson (2003) and Holland
(e.g. Holland, 1993, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008; Rowling & Holland,
2000) focused on bereavement responses in English schools. Lowton and
Higginson interviewed thirteen teachers on the topic, while Holland examined
an undisclosed number of teachers. All researchers reported that
teachers had found themselves unqualified and unequipped to deal with
bereavement and that it had been distressing for them as individuals. In
some instances, teachers had not been made aware of the bereavement
until days after it had happened. Furthermore, often contact with the
bereaved family had been limited to one telephone conversation. These
findings share similarities with the discoveries of the present study. Holland
(2008) further argued that the intense focus on academic achievement
made it difficult for teachers to find time to provide pastoral care.
While Liz did not comment on this in her interview, there are strong indications
towards the system also causing problems for the bereavement
response.
Having undertaken only two interviews, this study is not generalisable
to the wider population. Differences between participating teachers like
years of experience, own experience with death and earlier experiences in
handling bereavements in the school further influence this study’s ability
to make generalisations. The publications of Lowton and Higginson
(2003), Lytje and Nielsen (2007) and Holland (e.g. 1993, 2000, 2001),
however, indicate that many of the issues discovered in the present findings
are not all that uncommon in other schools. While factors such
as policies and the individual nature of b-plans may have impacted the
studies in unforeseen ways, a comparison with the above studies suggest
that the findings of this study may be broadly generalisable as issues that
other schools also struggle with.
5.4 Personal emotional costs for teachers
When the b-plans were reviewed at the beginning of this thesis, it was
found that some of them suffered from faults such as incorrect interpretations
and lack of detail. However, at the same time, the b-plans have

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 49
shown considerable strength in helping teachers through a course of bereavement,
as was seen in both this study and the study of Lytje and
Nielsen (2007). Teachers in both studies conveyed that they considered
the plan to be very helpful and fundamental in dealing with the bereaved
in a structured way. Ida elaborated:
It was just like following a step-by-step plan after this [the
bereavement] happened and this I thought was very helpful
because it helped me to structure things... At this point I just
swallow it all raw. Because in some aspect, I was so much in
shock myself (Ida).
Ida at the same time expressed some concerns about simply following
a plan uncritically while not knowing if it was guiding her to do the
“right” thing or not. Ultimately the advantages and disadvantages of
the b-plan lead to one fundamental question. Is it better to use a plan
full of unknown theories and advice that in the words of Jacobsen (2009)
gives the helper a false sense of security but in doing so enables them
to act? Or is it better to opt for an ad hoc approach, risking that the
teachers may not know what to do and end up doing very little?
Perhaps the best way to find an answer is to look for guidance within
another field. When reading books and guides on how to perform first
aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, the advice most often given is
that it is better to try and risk doing something wrong than simply to
wait for someone else to act and thereby risk losing the person completely
(e.g. Eisenburger & Safar, 1999). When the English teacher in this case
was asked to consider having a practical b-plan, she reflected:
If the school is told [about the bereavement] I think it is useful
to have some sort of procedure... but I think it might be great
for a new teacher to think, “Right, I’ll do this and then I’ll
have to do this” and then following [sic] the procedures...
(Liz).
As such, the English teacher argued in favour of having such a plan. It
should, however, not be forgotten that the English school did have a
policy on bereavement, although it was never put into use. It seemed
like this policy had simply got lost among the hundreds of other policies
the school retains. Furthermore, the policy seemed to be more of
a declaration of intent rather than a practical guide. In contrast to her
Danish counterpart who was quite proud of the school’s b-plan, the English
teacher did not seem to feel any ownership of her school’s policy.
This is quite understandable, since the plan would have offered her very
little help. At the same time, she never read the plan, so a useful one
might have suffered the same fate.
What really constitutes the originality in Dige and Bøge´s b-plan (e.g.
1998, 2005) and what makes their work more efficient than the plans seen

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 50
in English schools today is that they succeeded in getting the teachers
to feel ownership of their b-plans. They did this by encouraging schools
to have a committee of teachers work out an independent b-plan aimed
at the specific needs of their own school. In doing this, they succeeded
in getting the teachers to sit down and discuss what should be done if
someone actually died in their school. The topic of bereavement went
from being something teachers did not talk about to something that had
been thoroughly discussed and for which they had a planned approach.
They also, in having the teachers author the plans themselves, made them
into specific guides aimed at the individual schools and into a product of
which the teacher in this study was quite proud. Even the teachers who
had not been engaged in making the plan would have a higher chance
of being made aware of its existence by colleagues when seeking advice
about how to deal with a bereaved student. Ultimately, the b-plan is a
tool made by teachers for teachers. Unfortunately, it at the same time
seem to be much more distressing for the Danish class teacher than the
approach taken by her English counterpart. Before a final conclusion can
be made on the efficiency of the two systems, the personal price paid by
the teachers for applying a b-plan will be evaluated.
5.5 The cost of b-plans
One of the previously described differences between the two cases in this
study was how the Danish teacher seemed to have a harder time coping
with the bereavement than her English counterpart. It could, however,
be argued that since so little was accomplished pastorally in the English
case, the teacher was never really involved enough in the bereavement
for it to affect her. Such avoidance is fully understandable and may in
part be explained by the modern societal wish to avoid having to deal
with death as detailed in the earlier literature review.
The Danish teacher described how knowing she was the sole person responsible
for handling the bereaved student on a day-to-day basis was
highly emotionally taxing. While she highlighted her support from colleagues
and the system, the burden of being in charge eventually led to
an emotional breakdown on the day of the funeral. While it could be argued
that this breakdown might not be linked to the Danish system, Ida
reported that she had: “as a matter of fact heard that many of my colleagues
experienced the same [emotional reaction]” (Ida). This indicates
that the personal approach of the b-plan is more taxing to the individual
teacher than the community approach of the English school.
While it has been argued in this thesis that the Danish system offers
better student support, the price teachers are asked to pay for the utilization
of the b-plan might be too high for society to expect them to do
so. Even if the school has counselling available to pick up the teacher, for

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 51
them to voluntarily go through the previously described ordeal might be
too much to expect from the teaching profession. These dilemmas have
no easy answer and perhaps it is only the individual teacher that can or
should decide how far they are willing to go. It is, however, irrefutable
that, besides students’ families, often very few people know them as well
as their teachers. This bond and this knowledge give the teachers some
tools which no other professional has access to. Consequently, it might
be in the best interest of the student if teachers are encouraged to deal
with the bereavement it they feel they can manage it. But it is important
they are given the right tools to do so.
5.6 Consequences of the study and recommendations
The findings of this study are both interesting and troublesome. They
highlight an English system that is ill equipped to deal with the pastoral
care of grieving students. This is unfortunately neither a new nor a
controversial finding. Similar inferences have been made by many other
researchers (e.g. Lowton & Higginson, 2003; Rowling & Holland, 2000).
Particularly, Holland (1993, 2008) has often highlighted the existence of
such issues and has dedicated his career to improving the bereavement
responses in English schools. He has suggested that the best way to
improve the response is by offering teachers more training on the topic
as well as introducing policies and plans detailing how to act in cases of
bereavement.
The more controversial conclusion of this thesis might be: what if Holland
is wrong? It is difficult to argue against extra teacher training, but with
fewer funds being made available for professional development in schools,
extra training for all teachers seems more of an idealistic solution than
a realistic one (Cook & Barker, 2010). In today’s world, bereavement
is just one among hundreds of other issues, like bullying and eating disorders,
which the school faces. Even if more funding were to be made
available, it would be s hard case to argue that it should all be spent on
educating teachers in bereavement and not on other problems which are
more common in everyday life.
Consequently, only Holland’s (2008) second suggestion on developing
policies and plans stand as a realistic option. The issue with the plans,
Holland suggested, is that this study found that the teacher did not read
the school’s plan. While her actions cannot be generalised to the whole of
England, she is certainly not the only British teacher who has expressed
a feeling of drowning in the hundreds of policies schools have today. With
so many plans in place, the teachers cannot be blamed for not reading or
knowing them all. As admirable as Holland’s arguments are, the plans

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION 52
will not work if no one reads them.
This is where the Danish bereavement plans come in. While they can
certainly be criticised for not being perfect, they manage to do one important
thing right. By having the teachers create them, they become
invested in the plans. Not only will every plan be forged to the needs of
the individual school, but they will also force the teachers to sit down
and carefully consider what to do if bereavement happened. As a participant
commented in an interview by Lytje and Nielsen (2007), the
plans force you to consider the question, “What if this situation really
happened?”(personal communication).
When looking at where to go in further research as a consequence of this
thesis, two studies seem obvious. Though issues associated with how
bereavement is handled in schools have been highlighted, this study has
been unable to determine the frequency of the problem. Furthermore,
this study has only interviewed the teachers and heard their side of the
story. It would be interesting to carry out a more expansive study where
the teacher, the bereaved student and the parent are interviewed. The
timeline interview form could be used to analyse whether the participants
had the same experience and perception of the bereavement efforts. It
might also give indications on whether the participants perceived similar
events to be important parts of the helping effort.
A second interesting study would be to look at improving the b-plans.
This thesis has argued that, while the plans are a step in the right direction,
they still suffer from many problems. As has been shown in this
study and supported by Bøge, the current plans tend to lose most of their
efficiency in the longer run (Gehlert, 2008). The review of 40 b-plans for
this thesis also indicated that some of the plans were of poor quality and
suffered from errors in teachers’ interpretation of theory. Other teachers
have adopted stage theories in their plans because of their ease of use.
They seem not aware of the critiques (e.g. Jacobsen, 2007; Weiss, 2008)
which have recently been launched against this form of theory, as elaborated
upon in the literature review. One of the inventors of the Danish
system, Dige (personal communication), argues that it is time to take the
plans to the next phase. He believes this should be based on a systematic/narrative
approach (e.g. Andersen, 2005; Lang & McAdam, 1995).
This is an interesting suggestion that needs further investigation before
it can be evaluated if a practical bereavement response methodology can
be build from this kind of approach.

Chapter 6
Conclusions
Comparing the differences between the English and Danish schools has
been an interesting endeavour which has revealed surprising dilemmas.
One of these dilemmas is what to do if a student does not want any help.
Such predicaments reveal that dealing with bereavement is a demanding
task that teachers have to face often without any training on the topic.
It seems the main difference between the two systems was that the Danish
teacher dared to react while the English teacher seemed paralysed in
her ability to do so, due to her difficulty in defining her role in the bereavement.
From examining the two cases it seems clear that the Danish
school offered more consistent support to the bereaved student than its
English counterpart. When looking at the reasons for this difference, two
major catalysts appear.
The first seems to be the existence of the Danish bereavement response
plan (b-plan), which helped guide Ida through the initial phase of the
bereavement. The plan defined who was responsible for helping the bereaved
student and what needed to be done in the first two weeks. Furthermore,
in the Danish case only one person was responsible for supporting
the bereaved student. While this was an extra burden on the
Danish teacher, she was given all the time off she needed to deal with
the student and had access to guidance and support from colleagues.
In the English system, there was no such understanding from the system.
Teachers were expected to provide the extra pastoral care on top of their
already busy workload. With no one in charge of helping the student
or having been given extra time to do so, it is understandable, albeit
unfortunate, that little help was offered to the bereaved student. This is
very regrettable since this study found that English teachers generally do
care about the wellbeing of their students but often do not know how to
deal with it. It was surprising that this thesis stirred a lot of interest from
English teachers I contacted. Many of them, even some who had declined
to participate in the study, requested a copy of this thesis since they
were interested in improving their response to bereavement. It suggests,
53

CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS 54
in accordance with the findings of Holland (2008), that English teachers
want to become better at handling bereavements but simply do not know
how to.
This thesis argues that an adapted version of the Danish b-plans may be
worth adopting in England. However, while the plans have been praised
as a major asset, they should not be glorified. The review of 40 b-plans
has shown that some of them suffered from errors in their interpretation
of theory while others were too short to offer any effective advice. However,
this study also showed that the plan in the Danish school studied
succeeded in enabling the teacher to act in a structured way. The bplans
can definitely be improved, and development and advancement of
this idea should continue. As imperfect as the plans may be, they seem
one step in the right direction of helping teachers to better respond to
bereavement.
At this point it might be easy to ask the question why teachers need
to deal with bereavement when psychologists and counsellors are better
trained to do so. The reason for teachers to be involved in helping the
bereaved student is that, besides the family, often no one else knows
the students as well as they do. Teachers often have access to a level of
knowledge about their students that no counsellor can match. This allows
them to offer a kind of support and understanding that other professionals
cannot give. This task can, however, often be difficult for teachers
who feel that they are crossing the line between being professional and
personal with their students. It could be argued that teachers should not
be forced to take this step if they do not wish to do so but the Danish
case suggests that daring to do so can save a child. It is for the same
reason that people writing about dealing with bereavement in childhood
seldom mention counsellors, but once in a while highlight a teacher who
was there for them and whom they never forgot (e.g. Olesen, 1999).
This should encourage teachers to reach out to bereaved students even
though doing so might be taxing. While the teacher might be the person
at the frontline in such instances, they should not stand alone. Future
educationalists should aim to develop tools that can help make working
with bereavement an easier task for teachers; tools that are easily accessible
and can support teachers in providing pastoral care under difficult
circumstances. Based on what has been seen in this study, b-plans may
be a step in the right direction. Such plans are, however, still a new
concept and the approach needs time and research to mature. The difference
that can be made should, however, not be underestimated, as
Skov (1999) recounts when reflecting on the loss of his mother:
Since we had moved to Frederiksberg I now belonged to another
school district and had to move school. I was terrified
about this prospect and Nordentoft [his class teacher] was notified
by my father. I remember I was called into her office,

CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS 55
where she looked directly at me and with a stern voice asked:
“Do you want to stay at this school?” “Yes”, I answered, and
she then smiled faintly and said: “Then it will be so” and
so it was. I thank her of whole my heart today she was the
closest I have ever been to an angel (Skov, 1999, p 59, own
translation).

Chapter 7
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Appendices
65

.1 Ethical consent form
Written Informed Consent
Title of study and academic year: Handling bereavement in the class - A comparative
philosophical hermeneutic study on Danish and English approaches to bereavement
in the school - 2011
Researcher: Martin Lytje
Supervisor: Dr. Stefanie Luthman
I have understood the details of the research as explained to me by the researcher, and
confirm that I have consented to act as a participant.
I have been given contact details for the researcher in the information sheet.
I understand that my participation is entirely voluntary, the data collected during the
research will not be identifiable, and I have the right to withdraw from the project at
any time without any obligation to explain my reasons for doing so.
I further understand that the data I provide may be used for analysis and subsequent
publication, and provide my consent that this might occur.
__________________________ ___________________________
Print name Sign Name
date: _________________________
To the participants: Data may be inspected by the Faculty of Education Psychology
Ethics panel, if required by institutional audits about the correctness of procedures.
Although this would happen in strict confidentiality, please tick here if you do not
wish your data to be included in audits: ___________
66

.2 Letter included in first contact with participants
Focus of the study:
The focus of my thesis is on how a teacher experienced having a bereaved
child in his/her class and who dealt with this on an everyday basis. I would
like to interview this teacher. This should take between 45-90 minutes and
will provide a good opportunity for the teacher to reflect on his/her own
reactions and challenges during this period.
Method:
Data will be collected in the form of an interview with the teacher who
handled the crisis cycle. The interview will be undertaken as an unstructured
interview, focussing on the story of the course of bereavement. To anchor
the conversation, a piece of paper with a timeline will be used to plot in the
events that followed in the wake of the bereavement. The interview will be
recorded on audiotape and transcribed, after which it will be anonymised.
Ethics:
The study is approved by the ethical Committee of the Faculty of Education.
Participating in the interview is voluntary for the teacher and he/she is
allowed to leave the study at any time if he or she wishes to do so. Talking
about bereavement can lead to a feeling of emotional discomfort. If this
happens the interview will be stopped. Hereafter the teacher may leave the
study, take a break or if deemed responsible continue the interview. It is
advised that the teacher makes arrangements with a friend, school counsellor
or colleague to standby if further support is needed after the interview.
1
67