mental health | Schools Week

Educational psychologists stripped from schools

A decline in the number of educational psychologists working with schools has prompted calls for a shake-up of funding. The number of educational psychologists employed by local authorities dropped 13 per cent over five years: from 1,900 in 2010 to 1,650 in 2015, according to new government figures. The change has been linked to councils […]

We can see mentally ill pupils, but what do we do?

I once cried on the tube in London. Tears dripped down my face, an inconsolable stream barely contained by my wet hands. I no longer remember what I was crying about. But I do remember the kindness of a hunched Nigerian woman, dressed in her Sunday best, who from her seat opposite, was watching me […]

Mental health first aid ‘inadequate’ in face of referral delays

The government will train a member of staff in every secondary school to identify mental health problems in pupils, but schools won’t get additional funding to treat or refer children. Theresa May has announced plans to deliver mental health “first aid” training to a staff member in every secondary school in England by 2020, but […]

We can turn the tidal wave of mental health problems

The growing sense of a crisis in schools prompted his new book, says John Tomsett. It seems that a day does not pass without a new report on the perilous state of children and young people’s mental health. Only last month a government report claimed that 110,000 children in London were suffering from significant mental […]

Select committees launch joint inquiry into schools’ mental health provision

A joint inquiry is set to investigate how schools and teachers can prevent and intervene in mental health issues among pupils. The education and health select committees will run a new inquiry into “the role of education in promoting emotional well-being in children and young people and preventing the development of mental health problems” in […]

Don’t underestimate peer-to-peer support in young people’s mental health

Putting more money and resources into current mental health provision is a pointless exercise if the children who need help are rejecting the system, says Sarah Newton. The Institute for Public Policy Research recently recommended that all secondary schools have guaranteed access to at least one day a week of on-site support from a mental […]

Teachers ‘not prepared’ for pupils’ poor mental health

Professionals outside education are “horrified” by the paltry training that teachers receive about mental illnesses in young people, claims a mental health charity. Hannah Kinsey, training and consultancy manager at YoungMinds, told delegates at a Westminster Education Forum event in London on Tuesday how the scarcity “shocked” people. “I recently did some work with the […]

Is boosting self-esteem bad for teens’ mental health?

A classroom focus on boosting pupils’ self-esteem hinders learning, said a London physics teacher. In the final Battle of Ideas session at the Telegraph Festival of Education, Gareth Sturdy said he believed the focus in teaching on dealing with pupils’ self-esteem allowed them to produce “all manner of excuses for poor behaviour or achievement. “It’s a […]

The motorway model of mental health risks

What have you been working on? We’re interested in the characteristics of schools linked to pupil mental health risks and are trying to research what those factors might be. We measure specifically a cognitive function called “steering cognition”. If you think of a pupil as a car, steering cognition (which is unrelated to IQ) regulates […]