Death and its Didactics in Pre-School and Primary School

If death is an issue inherent to life, why is it still out of education systems? Death -and its didactics- is an ignored area, pushed into the background or covered up by society, including school. With few exceptions, teachers are not sure if they should do something about it at schools. And if so, it is necessary for them knowing what to do and how to proceed. The former was demonstrated by the data collected in the Teacher Training School from the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Students of that university (people studying to be teachers at the pre-school and primary school levels) were asked about different aspects related to the didactics of death, as well as their own attitudes towards the topic. Results point out the need of training students for the aforementioned subject. These students, who will be teachers of children between 0 and 12 years within 3-4 years, are totally lost in relation to the topic of death, both in general terms (how to talk about it with the kids) and in response to specific events (disasters, death of a relative, death of a child in the class, ..). Therefore, it seems clear that two changes are necessary in relation to this topic. Firstly, a better formation or training for students who are going to be these childreńs teachers is necessary. And, secondly, it is also necessary the creation and implementation of educational resources to tackle this issue from both aforementioned points of view (preventive and reactive).