Between January and May 2021, I studied at the University of Derby for my Master’s Level 7 module: Children and Adolescent Mental Health and undertook a wide range of research to write this study.
I studied government policies, white papers, school policies and codes of practice to previous evidence-based studies, research-based studies and theories to form my understanding on the subject (I have put the 45+ bibliography at the end of bottom of this page).
Let’s start with an outline of children’s mental health in England today:
Mental health problems are consistently rising for the children and young people (CYP) in Britain, with behavioural and emotional disorders being the most common among 5-10 year olds (World Health Organisation, WHO, 2020). 16% of CYP have a probable mental health disorder (NHS Digital,
2020) which is the equivalent of nearly 5 children in every class of 30; an increase from 11.2% in 2017, 10.1% in 2014 and 9.7% in 1999 (NHS digital, 2017).
The Young Minds survey (2020) reported that a combined total of 83% of CYP said that the pandemic had made their mental health either ‘a bit’ or ‘much worse’ and compared to in 2017/18. Please bear in mind that the 2020 study was conducted in July and August, after the first (of three) lockdowns in England so this may be a modest number.
Why is it on the rise?
I believe it is due to the increase in social media, where online bullying and a reduction in face-to-face communication has been a secondary effect, the exam pressures that pupils now face, the pressure to look a certain way, as portrayed by celebrities and influencers we are bombarded with in marketing campaigns online and in the street and of course, COVID-19.
This increase in the amount of CYP needing professional help will add to the already extremely long waiting lists for referrals. Before the schools started back in January 2021, you could already be waiting up to 87 days before you are even seen for an initial meeting; with the country’s average being 43 days.
This is not good enough. Improved mental wellbeing is widely attributed to early identification of an issue and early intervention (Future in Mind, 2015). The time that it takes to be seen will be time that impacts on the child’s self-esteem, their self-understanding and acceptance and their education.
The government have started to introduce Mental Health Support Teams into schools (DH & DFE, 2017) which would help to shorten this waiting period, but these are still being set up and trialled in trailblazer areas (NHS, 2021). They are devised to give timely support but with 11% of clinical posts in CYP’s services being vacant (Kings Fund, 2018), staff will not be able to meet the demand. The government have ringfenced £79 million for the creation of these teams (DH, 2021) but this money would be better spent on recruiting and training more mental health professionals to meet the demand and shorten waiting times.
The Teachers’ Standards (DFE, 2013) state in the preamble that “teachers make the education of their pupils their first concern” (page 10). According
to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Cherry, 2018), people need to feel safe and secure and have their physiological needs met before they can learn.
Surely pupils’ health and wellbeing should be teachers’ first concern!? If children aren’t happy and healthy then we know this is a huge barrier to learning. Let alone if they’ve had enough sleep, eaten breakfast or are suffering from mental health problems. Teaching them before their needs have been met is pretty pointless. They will struggle to retain any information and focus.
Teacher workload is already through the roof, with 7 out of 10 primary teachers reporting that workload is a serious problem in the Teacher Workload Survey (DFE, 2019) so even though many, many teachers currently put their pupils’ wellbeing first, in many areas, this could be doubling their workload. In my opinion, teaching assistants are best placed to have authority over their class pupils’ mental health. They are already managing pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural issues,
often without any formal training (Groom & Rose, 2005), so having responsibility for this is a natural progression.
Many schools do not assess teaching assistants according to the results they produce (in terms of a pupil’s progress if they have worked with them 1:1). Perhaps they could have bi-annual appraisals based around the support they have provided for the pupils’ mental health. This could motivate them to provide a service of value and could be linked to their pay grades, just as a teacher’s performance is.
Teaching assistants often have a caring nature and with professional training in identifying the first signs of mental ill health, giving mental health support to mild conditions, reporting this to the relevant teacher/member of staff/parent and contacting multiagencies for more support; I believe that pupils and TAs would thrive.
Once the current TAs have been trained, this could be added onto the Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship programmes.
I envision that there would be a part-time TA based in every class which I know isn’t currently the case in some schools and they would still support during the independent activity time in lessons and could spend pockets of time (during the register, in the morning activity, during assembly, when the teacher is giving the class input, etc) focusing on their mental health responsibilities.
What do you think about using your teaching assistants in this way?
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The Mindfulness Teacher 