Grief Education in Schools Aotearoa (GESA)
Grief education is now secured in New Zealand’s curriculum from 2027
Grief Education in Schools Aotearoa (GESA) warmly welcomes the Ministry of Education’s confirmation that grief education will be formally included in the revised Health and Physical Education curriculum, initially from 2027 for Year 10, then from 2029 for Years 3 to 7.
GESA made a submission to the Ministry earlier in the year, through the public consultation on the Health and Physical Education learning area. The submission was crafted in consultation with key grief practitioners and professionals from across the country.
Listen to Lee-Anne Duncan, GESA co-founder, talk about the need for grief education in schools on 95bfm.
What’s new?
GESA recommended three key inclusions focused on the inclusion of grief education, in Years 4, 5 and 6. The Ministry declined one inclusion, however, made other additions elsewhere.
Year 4: “Grief” included
Our Year 4 recommendation: People can experience strong emotions such as happiness, excitement, sadness, grief and love that affect the way they behave in different situations.
The Ministry included this recommendation in the Year 4: Health Education / Physical and mental health / Mental health).
Year 5: “Grief” included
Our Year 5 recommendation: Intense emotions such as anxiety, grief, embarrassment, or being overwhelmed can activate the brain’s stress response, triggering fight, flight, or freeze reactions.
The Ministry included this recommendation in Year 5: Health Education / Physical and mental health / Mental health.
Year 6: “Life transitions” included
GESA also called for the specific mention of major life transitions, such as death, in Year 6.
Our Year 6 recommendation: Relationships change over time due to factors like personal growth, conflict, or life transitions – including birth and death – and adapting to these changes with effective communication and empathy supports emotional wellbeing.
The Ministry did not include this specific recommendation in Year 6, but referenced “life transitions” in the updated learning area (see Year 6: Health Education / Relationships):
“Relationships change over time due to factors like life transitions, personal growth, changing priorities, or conflict. Managing relationship changes and challenges requires many different strategies including effective communication and showing empathy.”
Year 10: “Death and loss” included
Importantly, the revised curriculum included part of our suggested Year 6 wording in the Year 10 learning area: Health Education / Physical and mental health / Mental health:
“Major life changes such as relationship separation, significant injury or illness, death, and other experiences of loss can influence mental health, identity, and relationships throughout life, requiring people to draw on protective factors and coping strategies over time.”
Years 3 and 7: “Change and loss” included
Additionally, the Ministry included mention of “change and loss” in Year 3 and in Year 7:
Year 3: Health Education / Physical and mental health / Mental health
“People experience a range of emotions that can affect thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, including emotions associated with change and loss.”
Year 7: Health Education / Physical and mental health / Mental health
“Experiences of change, loss, and grief can affect emotional and social well-being, and people may respond and cope in different ways.”
GESA is delighted that the Ministry has recognised the importance of this learning.
Crucially, these inclusions ensure a progressive development of grief education across all stages of schooling – primary, intermediate, and secondary.
The new curriculum will provide structured, age‑appropriate opportunities for tamariki and rangatahi to learn about change, loss, grief, and death from Year 3 through to Year 10, building understanding over time.
Year 10 will begin teaching the new curriculum from January 2027, while the younger years will adopt it in January 2029.
What’s next?
The curriculum change is a huge step forward. But getting grief education into the curriculum is only the beginning.
GESA is continuing to work towards the development of updated resources for teachers, schools and kura, and ensuring that teaching and learning about grief are supported through initial teacher education and ongoing professional development.
GESA will therefore keep its petition open through the election period, calling for grief education to be properly supported and delivered in schools, and for all school staff to have the knowledge and confidence to respond to grief.
The petition will demonstrate that this issue matters to New Zealanders and that there is public support for the commitment now made in the curriculum – whoever forms the next government.
“I would have liked my teacher to have taken me aside and acknowledged my father’s death, or my friends to have said something to me. But I don’t remember anyone saying much of anything.”
The case for grief education in schools
The quotes above and below are sentiments Lee-Anne Duncan heard so, so many times during the writing of the stories on this website and in her forthcoming book, Too Young.
Most people who had a parent die when they were young have a “going back to school” story, about what it was like to step back into the classroom after such an enormous, life-shattering, terrible event. Sometimes, for the lucky few, it was handled well – the school was prepared, the teachers were compassionate, they acknowledged the death in a way that made the child feel safe, seen and heard.
However, more often these bereaved children had less than ideal experiences within the school system, and with their classmates – that’s what GESA is seeking to improve and avoid by ensuring grief education is taught in all schools, to all tamariki Years 0 to 10, and that all teachers and school staff have grief training.
The Ministry of Education’s new curriculum is a good start towards that goal – however, the work continues.
If you would like to join the movement, and/or offer any funding or funding ideas (we are all volunteers!) please email GESA co-founder, Gail Precious.
“Back then I wish I had known it was okay to reach out, to share, to ask for help. The difficulty is that teenagers haven’t necessarily developed the ability to communicate what’s inside them.”
“At break time, a boy in my class started dancing around me singing, ‘Lisa’s mum’s died! Lisa’s mum’s died!’ I felt so embarrassed to have the attention on me. That’s how I often felt about the fact I was the girl with the dead mum.”
