Disenfranchised grief in educational communities

This article concentrates on schools as workplaces for school staff and learning and socialising environments for students. Brief reference is made to first year university students' experiences of loss. Research indicates that bereavement affects a child's peer relationships and academic achievement (Carr & Balk, 1996) and the professional performance of teachers, principals and school psychologists (Rawling, 2003). The linking experience for these school community members is articulating the need for the school as an organisation to be a validating, restorative and enfranchising community (Rawling, 2005; Donnelly & Rawling, 2007). The process would involve the school as an organisation demonstrating awareness of the impact of grief experiences by legitimation, support and recognition (Corr, 2002) and thereby instituting an active process of acknowledgement and acceptance.