Exploring How Models of Disenfranchised Grief Account for the Lived Experience of SEN Teaching and Support Staff Following a Student Death: An IPA Study

Special Educational Needs (SEN) describe schooling in the UK for young people with an intellectual disability where mortality is more common than in mainstream school settings. This study explores how well models of disenfranchised grief (Doka, 1989, 2002; Robson & Walter, 2012; Rowling, 1995) account for the experience of staff in SEN school settings. Interviews were conducted with 11 teaching staff, focused upon the death of two children with severe/profound learning difficulties. Interviews were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; Smith, 2017). Findings demonstrated a lack of disenfranchisement from school-based colleagues, with senior leaders having organisational and financial capacity to actively enfranchise bereaved staff. Within the school context, bereaved staff were the primary bereaved, whereas beyond the school bounds, staff had to renegotiate their rights and entitlements to grieve. Models of disenfranchised grief require some reconceptualisation to fully account for the experience of SEN teaching staff following a student death.