The place of death in elementary and secondary school curricula in Turkey

• Published in: International journal of educational research Vol. 117; p. 102106
• Main Authors: Sonbul, Zeynep Funda, Çelik, Raşit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2023
• Subjects: Coursebook; Curriculum; Death education; Curriculum; Death education; Coursebook
• ISSN: 0883-0355; 1873-538X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2022.102106

•Examines the presence of the notion of death in elementary and secondary school curricula and textbooks.•The notion of death is addressed only in the Religious Culture and Ethics Education curricula explicitly.•The notion of death has not been dealt with an interdisciplinary approach.•The whole of textbooks cover the notion of death, yet not in a planned and systematic way. This study aims to determine the presence of the notion of death in 17 curricula of elementary and secondary school and in 18 coursebooks. Analysis is based on six categories and 49 themes. The study was designed as mixed research. The study revealed that except for the curricula of Religious Culture and Ethics Education, 16 curricula did not adress the notion of death directly. Correspondingly except for the coursebooks of Religious Culture and Ethics Education others did not cover the notion of death in a direct, planned and systematic way. Based on these findings, it has been concluded that death education is embraced only from a religious point of view but neglected in several aspects.