Anxiousness in primary and secondary pupils rises

The Department for Education has published its State of the nation report on children and young people’s wellbeing for 2022.

It shows that during the 2021/22 academic year, while wellbeing on most measures remained consistent, anxiousness among both primary and secondary-age pupils appears to have increased and is higher than in 2020/21.

Secondary-age boys reported better wellbeing than girls throughout the 2021/22 academic year on all measures. Within secondary-aged pupils, older pupils consistently reported poorer wellbeing than younger pupils. Secondary-age pupils with SEN were more likely to report low wellbeing on some time points and in some measures than those without SEN in 2021/22, though there was no consistent pattern.

Finally, secondary-age white pupils reported greater anxiousness than those from an ethnic minority background throughout the 2021/22 academic year. This contrasts with the 2020/21 academic year, when no differences in anxiousness were detected by ethnicity.

Together, these findings suggest a mixed picture regarding children and young people’s personal wellbeing in 2021/22, though anxiousness among primary and secondary age pupils may have worsened through the year.

Responding to the report, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: “These extremely worrying findings chime with the experiences of our members, who have seen the damaging impact of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis on children exacerbate long-standing concerns around young people’s wellbeing and mental health.

“School leaders and their staff work tirelessly to identify mental health needs and support children’s well-being, but they are not mental health specialists and they need to be able to draw on the expertise and support of specialist services.

"It is unfair on staff and pupils for schools to be left to struggle to paper over the cracks left by an unacceptable postcode lottery in early support and mental health treatment in which many children face long waits for treatment or are told their problems are not bad enough to warrant help.

“We welcome the introduction of mental health support teams working with schools, but the government must speed up their roll-out and go further by investing in counselling services in all schools.

“The government must also fund easy-access mental health support services in every community offering early support to children with emerging issues, while also investing more in treatment and crisis services so all children get help when they need it.”