KAKO OBJASNITI SMRT: STRATEGIJE UČITELJA PRILIKOM SUSRETA UČENIKA SA MOTIVOM SMRTI U KNJIŽEVNOM TEKSTU

Psychological studies in previous decades have shown that the questioning of death begins in early childhood and that its conceptualization continues to develop during elementary school attendance. Therefore, the goal of this text is to systematize the opinions and strategies of teachers regarding the definition of the concept of death when pupils encounter the motif of death in a literary text, and then to formulate recommendations for further work in this field. For this purpose, a questionnaire was drawn up, which was filled out by 329 teachers, and their answers were subjected to qualitative analysis. The results show that teachers mostly offer direct explanatory and/or descriptive answers, that they understand the emotions that accompany death and that they tend to respect the opinions of the pupils’ family members. The room for improvement can be seen in a more thorough acquaintance of the experience and understanding of death that pupils have, in avoiding metaphorical explanations and abstract concepts, as well as in accepting the unpleasant feelings that potentially accompany contact with death.