Youth awareness on death and dying in school settings: A scoping review on knowledge and practices

Background School is a key setting for a child’s cognitive, social, and civic development and may therefore offer a promising space to open dialogue about death and dying. Yet awareness-raising practices on death and dying in schools can be difficult to identify within the abundance of scientific and practical writings. To support school staff and enrich curricula with coherent and context-sensitive approaches, we sought to map existing practices to better understand the levers, barriers, and conditions for success. Objectives To explore the current state of knowledge and practices on awareness about death and dying (ADD) in the school context, and answer these questions: 1) How is ADD addressed in school settings? 2) What are the views of young people, parents, and school personnel on raising ADD? 3) What factors influence such ADD? Design This scoping review followed Levac’s methodology. Methods Searches were performed in 17 scientific and grey literature databases, complemented by reference tracking and community partners’ consultation. Data were charted by research questions and analyzed using content analysis. Results 35 writings (2010-2023) were included. Various awareness-raising practices combining multiple activities were identified, emphasizing the value of multimodal approaches that engage cognitive, emotional, and creative dimensions. Interdisciplinary collaboration with community organizations was frequently requested to support ADD practices. Perceptions of ADD were generally positive, though nuances emerged among young people, school personnel and parents. Our results identify numerous factors that influence ADD, span between individual, family, school, and sociocultural levels, showing the multidimensionality and systemic nature of this phenomenon. Conclusion ADD in schools is shaped by its context, such as collaboration between interested parties, teacher training, sensitive practices, and supportive policy frameworks enabling meaningful curricula integration. Without clear political and institutional support, initiatives remain fragile and dependent on isolated actors.