When someone in your school community is diagnosed with cancer, you are likely to encounter a range of reactions from students, families and colleagues. These general guidelines may help you pick up on signs of distress and provide age-appropriate support.
Learn more about:
- Early primary students (4–7 years)
- Later primary students (7–12 years)
- Secondary students (12–18 years)
- Parents and staff members (over 18 years)
Early primary students (4–7 years)
In the early primary years, students have a basic understanding of sickness. When someone they know has cancer, they may worry that they will catch the disease or that they caused it (e.g. by being naughty or thinking bad thoughts about the person).
At this age, most children are egocentric: they often think everything is related to them and may not yet empathise with others. They tend to notice (and comment on) physical changes. Young students may be just starting to realise that people, including parents or grandparents, can die.
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Later primary students (7–12 years)
By the later primary years, most students are ready for more complex explanations of cancer and cells. Like younger children, they may feel responsible for causing the cancer of someone they know and may blame it on their own bad behaviour. Many are starting to comprehend the finality of death and its impact (especially if they have been exposed to death at a young age).
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Secondary students (12–18 years)
By the secondary years, students are starting to think more like adults. As their ability for abstract thought develops, they recognise relationships between events, such as cause and effect. They now appreciate that people are fragile and can imagine what it might be like to have cancer.
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Parents and staff members (over 18 years)
Because adults and some older students can think in abstract terms, they usually empathise with the person affected by cancer. They understand complex relationships between events and are likely to recognise the impact of a cancer diagnosis and treatment on all aspects of life (such as school and personal relationships).
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→ READ MORE: When a student has cancer
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Claire Tobin, Principal Medical Advisor, Department of Education and Training, VIC; Dr Antoinette Anazodo, Paediatric and Adolescent Oncologist, Sydney Children’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, Director of The Sydney Youth Cancer Service, and Conjoint Senior Researcher, University of New South Wales, NSW; Lisa Barrow, Clinical Nurse Educator, Children’s Cancer Centre, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC; Margo Bulic, Psychosocial Support Worker, CanTeen, ACT; Amber Copeland, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland; Donna Drew, Clinical Nurse Consultant, Paediatric Oncology/Palliative Care, Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, NSW; Allesha Fecondo, Education Consultant, Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service, and Education Liaison, Ronald McDonald Learning Program, Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia, VIC; John Friedsam, General Manager of Divisions, CanTeen Australia, NSW; Pina Hutcheson, President, Catholic Primary Principals’ Association of WA; Cara Irvine, Year 8 Coordinator, Alfred Deakin High School, ACT; Andrew Long, Assistant Director, Policy and Research, Independent Schools Council of Australia, ACT; Dr Alistair Lum, Post-doctoral Research Fellow – Behavioural Sciences Unit, Sydney Children’s Hospital, University of New South Wales, NSW; Kristine Luszczynski, Learning Program Manager, Quality and Standards, Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia, NSW; Anita Neville, National Manager, Ronald McDonald Learning Program, Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia, VIC; NSW Department of Education, NSW; Mandy Roney, Consumer; Shannon Rush, Primary School Program Manager, Camp Quality, SA; Luke Wade, Education and Career Support Consultant, Redkite, QLD.
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