Teaching for life

Due to advances in medicine, greater numbers of children with life limiting and life threatening conditions are attending mainstream schools. An international literature search was carried out between February and July 2010 for academic journal articles across nine electronic data bases. It produced 23 papers published between 2005 and July 2010. The findings showed that the needs of these children and their families are not being well met. Children, young people and parents want teachers to have a better understanding of medical conditions and to provide better educational support. It concluded that schools need to work with both social and medical models, and within dynamic frameworks that bring together the family and health, social and education agencies. The Teaching for Life project is a collaborative project between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Health and Social Care at Canterbury Christ Church University. It is examining the needs of teachers in relation to working with children with life limiting or life threatening conditions in schools. It comprises a questionnaire and interviews with teachers who have had experience of working with such children, and those without.