Looking after young minds

The classroom is no longer just about learning your ABC. Nowadays schools are tasked with nurturing not just a child’s brain but also looking out for their emotional well-being. So what is the best way to do this? Enver Solomon from the National Children’s Bureau offers some advice.

The Department for Education (DfE) acknowledges that children with better emotional well-being make more progress in primary school and are more engaged in secondary school. It is therefore vital that schools play a role in making sure all their pupils are resilient and mentally healthy.

Over the last few decades the issues around children’s mental health have been a growing concern for everyone. Both the Department for Education and the Department of Health have looked at the topic focusing on how widespread the problem is and what can be done to prevent it from happening. Research for the Department of Health found over half of all mental ill health starts before the age of 14 and 75 per cent have developed it by 18. Failure to support children and young people with mental health needs costs lives and money. The NHS believes in 2012-13 around £0.7bn was spent on child mental health services.

Part of the inspection
As part of the revised schools inspection framework the well-being of children now has to be taken into consideration. Ofsted’s recent report ‘Better Inspection for All’ included proposals to include a section to the Ofsted report that focused on personal development, behaviours and welfare of children and learners. Ofsted polled teachers and lecturers, parents and carers and pupils. Every group agreed this more holistic approach should be included, so from September 2015 this new section was added to the revised inspection framework and training manuals were updated to ensure inspectors were taught the new ways to assess maintained schools, academies and FE and skills providers.

How big is the issue?
Earlier this year the National Children’s Bureau and Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) carried out a survey to try and gain a greater understanding of the mental health issues schools are facing. We asked respondents to report if they thought that more than 40 per cent of their students had experienced certain issues or feelings. The most common issue was stress and anxiety, with 18 per cent saying it effected more than 40 per cent of their pupils. Peer relationship issues, came next with 16 per cent, followed by family relationship issues (12 per cent) then low mood and depression (11 per cent).

Another question found more than half, 55 per cent, had seen a large increase in the number of students experiencing anxiety or stress and 38 per cent has seen a large increase in students having a low mood or depression.

Self assessment
With such increasing numbers of complex mental health issues being seen in schools, the NCB and its Partnership for Well Being and Mental Health in Schools has produced ‘A whole school framework for emotional well-being and mental health – A self-assessment and improvement tool for school leaders’. This toolkit provides school leaders with a four stage approach to developing a framework that can be implemented to recognise and support a school child with mental health issues.

The first stage is about identifying what happens and what matters in your school now. The toolkit asks staff to answer a number of questions such as: What bothers and concerns you? What would you and your staff like to change and why? What’s missing from existing practises? In order to take a whole school approach, which is a key factor in tackling the issues head on, the toolkit suggests speaking to staff, students, governors, parents and any external partners. By opening this discussion teachers will have a chance to think about how they support pupils who are facing difficulty and whether more can be done.

This leads onto the next stage which looks at getting a shared understanding of what the issues are, the language that can be used and agreeing to change and develop.

Stage three is about building relationships and developing practises. This will involve deciding on which members of staff can lead the work, developing clear plans and guidelines that all staff can follow, working out timelines, reaching out to external partners and health providers like counsellors, GPs and charities etc. This stage also looks to make sure staff are encouraged to share best practise and information. Part of the whole school approach is ensuring that if someone has successfully supported a child through mental issues they share what they did and what worked with the rest of the staff.

The final part of the toolkit is about implementing the ideas and ensuring your staff feel secure and able to carry them out. Evaluation is recommended to ensure the plans are working and making a difference to the lives of the school population. By going through this toolkit staff know their school recognises the need to develop a supportive school and classroom climate with an ethos that is connected, understanding and accepting of those who experience emotion vulnerability.

In addition, by working cohesively to improve the mental health of its pupils the school often improves within other areas. Research confirms the approach contributes to children making better academic progress, feeling safe and protected, it reduces exclusion and bad behaviour rates, makes staff feel competent and confident that they are doing the best they can to help vulnerable students and indeed other members of staff.

Teachers’ well-being
Nowadays it’s not only students experiencing an increase in mental health issues, teacher’s well-being has also come under scrutiny. With decreasing budgets, regular curriculum and teaching practise changes, more external inspections and generally larger workloads teachers are finding their jobs more and more stressful. A poll by NASUWT of over 5,000 teachers union found one in ten say they have been prescribed anti-depressant drugs to cope with the pressure of their jobs and over 80 per cent have experienced sleeplessness.

The whole school framework is accompanied by a resources document, It sets out how adopting a whole school approach can improve not just student but also staff well-being. The resource explains why this approach should be taken up by schools and how better mental health awareness and preparation can assist a setting to develop clear identification processes, early interventions strategies and robust care pathways to ensure the support is there when a child needs it.

The toolkit also recommends ensuring all pupils are taught social and emotional skills, attitudes and values by enthusiastic and positive teachers using fun interactive methods and resources. This is another important part of how schools can tackle mental health and well-being. While the numbers of people experiencing mental health issues continues to increase, there are still many students that avoid the problem, however this does not mean they should be ignored and in fact in order to fulfil the whole school approach that the NCB toolkit and the Department for Education advises, this group of pupils should very much be asked to contribute to the plans.

Removing the stigma
One thing that is key to tackling mental health is removing the stigma and making sure those who need help feel they can stand up and say something without being attacked or made to feel worse. So many charities and organisations have realised the importance of talking about mental health to ensure it is no longer seen as a taboo subject or something to be ashamed of.

Mental health in schools should focus on support and signposting those that need help, but also educating pupils in how to recognise the signs of the illness. This will mean if they see one of their friends displaying signs they feel confident to talk openly about it and seek help.

The Department for Education says it wants to improve the quality of teaching about these issues within Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons. Working alongside the PSHE Association, the DfE have produced lesson plans and accompanying documents covering key stage 1-4 (5-16 year olds) that will focus on the topic. Older children will also address issues like self-harm, eating disorders and managing stress and anxiety around exams.

There is also plenty of help out there for parents and carers. Many of the charities and organisations working within the Partnership for Well-being and Mental Health in Schools have produced tips and guides that adults can use to support a young person with mental health and well-being issues.

Overall it is vital that whether a school, parent or carer everyone works together to ensure children experience an education system where emotional well-being and mental health is at the heart of school culture, so everyone can build resilience and flourish.

Further information
www.ncb.org.uk