Attitudes toward death education for young children

A state-wide study was conducted to determine early childhood educators' perspectives of death education for young children. The results of this study generally indicate that teachers are (a) convinced of the need for self-development, (b) willing to cooperate with parents of children who have experienced significant loss, (c) attempting to respond to children's concerns related to death, and (d) exploring the possibility of initiating a more systematic approach to death education as a component of the early childhood curriculum. There was no significant correlation between the respondents' attitudes and the variables of age, sex, race, teaching experience, income, religion, and education. Several experiences and concerns of early childhood educators are analyzed.