Abstract
This essay deals with the experiences of hospital school teachers, when teaching terminally and chronically ill children. Teachers form part of a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers and other caregivers. As a team they all share the same goal of assisting the child to better health with the minimum disruption to normal development and education. The effects on teachers personally; coping with emotional stresses of children being seriously ill and sometimes, unfortunately dying and professionally; by constantly adapting learning and teaching styles to suit the needs of these learners, are numerous when working in these conditions and often results in burnout. This essay explores these effects by inquiring into the lives of four teachers at one particular hospital school. This phenomenological study comes to a conclusion that hospital teachers need specific and distinctive characteristics to deal with issues out of the norm. They have to own extraordinary commitment and acknowledge the true value of teacher collaboration. Finally teachers needed ongoing support on a personal level; counseling, and on a professional level; teacher training and development in order to remain healthy, personally intact and at the spearhead of developments in the teaching profession. The essay ends with recommendations for hospital school teachers and hospital schools.
Dr. M.P. van der Merwe