L’influence de la perte d’un parent et du deuil chez l’élève de niveau primaire sur sa réussite scolaire
Elementary school achievement is a determining factor for the student’s future academic success. Some elements, like student’s psychological health and parental involvement, might play an important role in school achievement but can be undermined by some life events such as parental loss. Our thesis has focused on a research conducted on 3 students of regular elementary school in Montreal, who lost a parent in the last two years. The research aim was to study the influence of both parental loss and bereavement on elementary school children’s school achievement. Few studies have been conducted on this subject and most of them have examined mainly the influence of bereavement’ psychological consequences on school achievement. In this research, we have adopted a global developmental approach by focusing on the student himself, his parents and his school environment. The research relies on three main concepts: bereavement, school achievement and parental involvement.  The methodology was based on an exploratory qualitative approach and on a content analysis. The participants consisted of 3 bereaved and non-immigrant children, aged between 7 and 10 years old; the surviving parent (2) and their teacher (3). Data had been collected through semi-structured interviews with all participants; children grade reports and school intervention plans. Our findings show that bereavement’ psychological consequences may have a negative influence on school achievement. Moreover, parental loss seems to have a negative influence on student’ family social economic status and on all parental involvement types, including helping at home with homework, collaborating with the school and the community. All those elements may influence negatively school achievement.
bereavement parental loss school achievement parental involvement elementary school student