The Silent Epidemic: Mental Health Concerns in UK Schools and the Urgency for Action
In the United Kingdom, the prevalence of mental health issues is a growing concern, with alarming statistics revealing a significant rise in the challenges that individuals face.
According to Mind, a leading mental health charity, 1 in 4 people in the UK face mental health issues, while 1 in 5 contend with suicidal thoughts, and 8 in 100 experience anxiety or depression. These worrying figures underscore the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding and effective response to mental health concerns. Schools are right at the frontline, with data from Young Minds highlighting that 1 in 6 children face mental health issues. And it is not just students; teaching staff are also increasingly affected by mental health issues.
We have had conversations with mental health and well-being experts to gain more insights into the matter and tackle it from various perspectives.
Emma Quartey is a former Deputy Head Teacher at Mulberry School for Girls and Designated Safeguarding and Mental Health lead at Sydenham School. Currently, she is the Head of Education at Young Women's Hub .
Richard Daniel Curtis , an internationally renowned behaviour expert and mentor with a background in developmental psychology, has impacted over ten million lives, particularly through his work with children. As the founder of The Mentoring School, he provides professional mentoring and training, and has co-authored the mental health curriculum for the Department of Education:
Amy Sayer (FCCT) is an associate, consultant, mental health trainer and content writer. She is a diversity advisor for the Chartered College of Teaching. She is the author of the book ‘Supporting staff mental health in your school’.
Teachers
The transition to online learning, coupled with an already demanding workload, has created a challenging situation for many teachers. The consequences of this shift are evident in the alarming statistics provided by The Teacher Wellbeing Index, revealing that a staggering 78% of all education staff in the UK are currently experiencing stress. Notably, this marks an increase from previous years, indicating a disturbing trend in the profession's mental health. But the problem is not only in direct factors affecting teachers, but also in the lack of support they receive due to the stigma surrounding the issue.
I do think there is a stigma surrounding the mental health of teachers. It is still difficult for teachers to admit that they are struggling. Unlike in corporate companies, teachers usually cannot request something like a mental health day. I have not come across that in UK schools. - Emma Quartey
Budget cuts and resource constraints within the education sector have limited the availability of mental health support for teachers. Insufficient access to counselling services, professional development opportunities, and coping mechanisms contribute to the overall sense of isolation and frustration.
I wrote my book because I was working in a secondary school as a mental health lead and I realised that for teachers to support student mental health, there must be systems in place to support their mental health as well. It needs to be a whole school approach. There are some practical things that line managers can do to support colleagues when they're having a conversation about their mental health, but also some of the things in terms of workplace amendments that can be done to support people who are struggling. - Amy Sayer (FCCT)
Teacher responsibility
In many schools, teachers are expected to play the role of counsellors and provide wellbeing support for students. To get the necessary training for that can, however, prove to be an almost impossible task.
The limited time and volume of responsibilities demand prioritisation. With only a small part of the academic year dedicated to training, educators navigate a vast array of topics, from safeguarding and mental health to subject-specific proficiency. It can get a bit tricky to manage everything and have time for it. - Emma Quartey
The demands of teaching, surrounded by administrative tasks, lesson planning, and assessment responsibilities, contribute significantly to teacher burnout. Long working hours and the pressure to meet performance metrics have created an environment where burnout is a pervasive issue.
The Teacher Wellbeing Index is completed every year by the charity Education Support and workload is one of the main contributors to the deteriorating mental health of staff. Because obviously, if schools aren't regularly reviewing workload, it means that more and more things can get added, which is unsustainable. - Amy Sayer (FCCT)
However, schools should still encourage teachers to be involved in the topic as they can significantly help students.
The reality is, that the more we can normalise ordinary people to talk about mental health and well-being, the more likely we are to address the taboo and have young people seek support. - Richard Daniel Curtis
Students
There are many factors influencing the mental health of students. Bullying is certainly one of them.
As you may know, Anti-Bullying Week organised by Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA), a coalition of organisations dedicated to tackling bullying, recently took place. This important event not only raises awareness about bullying, but also about the consequences of it. Students often face social pressures related to peer relationships, body image, and societal expectations. Bullying, whether in-person or online, further increases mental health challenges, leading to issues such as depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal.
But bullying is not the only factor affecting mental health of students. High academic expectations, standardised testing, and the competitive nature of education contribute to significant stress among students. Moreover, the increasing prevalence of social isolation, especially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to feelings of loneliness among students.
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I think there are going to be lots of factors such as environmental factors around where students are living and their relationships with their carers, and it’s important that schools have as much information about students’ circumstances as possible. - Amy Sayer (FCCT)
Unfortunately, the level of support has not matched the speed of rising mental health concerns and schools must ensure that sufficient support is available for students. If that means utilising their internal staff, that also means providing time for training and making sure that the mental health of staff is also protected.
The pandemic is the biggest thing that impacted the mental health and well-being of students. It has affected social skills, romantic relationships, friendships and emotional development. We are also seeing an increase in general anxiety as well as potential impact that all of this could have on self-esteem. - Richard Daniel Curtis
Recommendation for schools
There are a lot of things schools can do to tackle this silent epidemic. Better training and awareness are two which spearhead the list.
The 'little and often' approach is quite effective in the realm of mental health integration. Incorporating mental health seamlessly into newsletters, staff presentations, and regular sharing of good practices facilitates a comprehensive integration into safeguarding training. - Emma Quartey
Furthermore, it is essential to offer on-site counselling services with qualified mental health professionals and establish a system for students to easily access counselling services without fear of judgment. Fear should not be linked with mental health counselling.
What are some of the other things schools could do?
It's about having the structures in place in schools to allow systems to be created that offer extra support to colleagues, rather than it just being like, oh, OK, thank you for telling me how you're feeling. - Amy Sayer (FCCT)
Bromcom
Our Education Consultant, Fergal Moane , outlines how schools can use MIS to address the prevailing issue of mental health and wellbeing.
Modules
Behaviour and Relationships
Staff can use the behaviour dashboard to identify students facing challenges and implement a '10% kinder' strategy. The balance of positive rewards to sanctions can be evaluated, emphasising recognition for non-academic factors or effort, for example. Configure Bromcom and My Child At School to notify parents of positive events and consider sending personal emails to praise students. Address patterns of bullying that may hinder student attendance.
Attendance
The attendance dashboard can be used to identify students with high persistent absence and create a custom Report Group to bring focus to these students. The EEF rapid evidence review has looked at the evidence behind a range of attendance interventions, and Bromcom can be used for targeted parental engagement interventions, from nudge letters to offers of breakfast clubs or extra-curricular clubs or interventions such as counselling or nurture groups.
Feedback
Young people can be hard upon themselves so putting the accent towards authentic positive feedback and finding opportunities to reflect upon successful learning strategies as well as reflecting upon mistakes as opportunities to learn. Bromcom’s highly flexible assessment system can capture non-academic factors such as attitude to learning or effort alongside academic data and these could be acknowledged by tutors or in assemblies etc. The flexible behaviour pathways could be configured to create certificates or other rewards to celebrate endeavour.
Inclusion and Safeguarding
Using Bromcom Safeguarding alongside the core behaviour module provides a comprehensive view of a child, including potential serious concerns like self-harm or eating disorders. Early intervention by pastoral teams, informed by behaviour indicators, can prevent issues from escalating to safeguarding levels. Streamlined communication between designated safeguarding leads and pastoral leaders is facilitated through scheduled reporting and dashboards in Bromcom . For students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, ensuring teacher awareness (register flags, SEN details) and uploading relevant documents to student profiles ensures consistent implementation of necessary adjustments.