WELLBEING Prioritising mental health


Barbara Knowles from the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association argues that the social and emotional aspects of mental health must be addressed in the education reforms


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s The education white Paper and the seND Green Paper look to redefine provision for all pupils across england, there can be little doubt about the notion that childhood today is almost unrecognisable from the childhood


experienced by those 40 or 50 years ago. i feel that there is a need to reflect on the impact of


such rapid growth and change in society, and as well as applauding the benefits gained, consider some of the more negative effects that it has had on our children – they are often the most vulnerable and least able to articulate their views and responses. Progress may have come at a cost to childhood and


adolescence particularly. Though my grandmother may not express it that way, saying more that “standards” are slipping, i think she is articulating her fear about a perceived breakdown in society norms and an inability to recognise her values in the children she observes today. Granny wants to attribute blame to someone or something, but it is surely more complex than that. i remain convinced that strong relationships are the building blocks of a healthy society, and that to remain healthy, children need to be able to identify with a community, and to belong to, contribute to, and participate fully in the growth of that community.


Union address: Voice Who represents the Scottish?


The acceptance of the revised terms and


conditions package for Scotland’s teachers has angered some, including Maureen Laing


for scottish teachers by the eis representatives. Voice and the other unions had a mandate from


their membership to reject the package, which seriously attacked the Mccroneagreement of 2001, or TP21, as it is more commonly known. The Mccrone Report – A Teaching Profession


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for the 21st Century – was achieved through much discussion, debate, deliberation and negotiation, and for 10 years has provided a clear set of national terms and conditions of service for those teachers working in local authority schools. Many private schools also embraced Mccrone. The changes to terms and conditions that were


presented as a package to the teachers’ unions did not result from negotiation or discussion but were put to the Teachers’ Panel on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.where was the collegiate approach which had been so much in evidence at the time of Mccrone’s introduction?


oice was appalled at the recent turn of events surrounding the acceptance, at the Teachers’ Panel of the scottish Negotiating committee for Teachers (sNcT), of the revised terms and conditions package


Voice balloted its teaching members on each


individual proposal and attended the next Teachers’ Panel meeting anticipating that there would be an opportunity to discuss them. This did not happen. The ballots undertaken by the various teaching


unions overwhelmingly rejected the package as a whole. There may have been some room for negotiation had that opportunity been given, but it was not. with some extra money being made available,


the package of proposals was amended slightly, but this was not negotiated through the tri-partite sNcT but presented for acceptance in return for vague promises by cosLa (convention of scottish Local authorities) and the scottish government to avoid compulsory redundancies and maintain teacher numbers at 51,131 in the september 2011 census. There were, and are, no guarantees about this. There has been no fine-tuning of the various


proposals so, effectively, local authorities can interpret them how they wish in the full knowledge that the Teachers’ Panel has endorsed them (in reality the collective eis vote in the Teachers’ Panel). Thus, the largest teaching union in scotland, the


eis, used its power to push through acceptance of a package which more than 75 per cent of scottish teachers rejected. our concern is that so much of what was achieved


under the Mccrone agreement is now threatened and much damage has been done by acceptance of the changes of terms and conditions – and this before Mccormac reports in the summer of 2011. if you want to ensure that a positive challenge


can be made to further erosion of the Mccrone agreement, then think seriously about what has happened so far and consider breaking the monopoly on the Teachers’ Panel. You have choices and you have a voice – it is important that you use it.


• Maureen Laing is senior professional officer (Scotland) for education union Voice. Visit www.voicetheunion.org.uk/snctpcp


wider travel, faster and more accessible transport


and significant change in family mobility and family structures have had a dramatic impact on communities as we knew them and creating a sense of community in our schools and settings has become much more of a challenge.what effect has this had on childhood and how does this impact life chances post-education? Developments in neuroscience have enabled


researchers to identify the significance of relationships in promoting the emotional development of children. we are now much more aware of the connections between our thinking, emotions and behaviour, and between behaviour and context and environmental variables. Neuroscience tells us that people and places matter,


that attitudes, approaches and expectations matter. it tells us that if we can promote effective relationships and become more aware of the emotional aspects of life and learning, we can create a climate in which children can prosper. But increasingly i have cause to wonder if some


of the casualties resulting from a life which now has global dimensions, a demanding pace of emergent technologies, and increasing individualism are the skills, attributes and abilities that young adults need to make and sustain appropriate, warm and lasting relationships and to create and live in a community. Do not misunderstand me, i recognise all of the


benefits that being part of a global culture bring, and welcome all of the ways in which childhood can be enhanced not least by having immediate access to worldwide streams of information, but ask at what cost? The hours spent communicating through screens,


often alone and without access to intonation, tone, gesture, eyes, smiles or the complex arrangement of signals that are communication, must have a negative influence on a child’s ability to identify, understand and develop relational skills. in a society that should demand a team approach


to problem-solving but may indeed be fostering competition, we have to acknowledge that we may not be providing children with the skills they will need to negotiate, motivate and develop tenacity within their relationships or to build the resilience that they will need to respond to an ever-changing 21st century Britain, or indeed the skills to develop their creativity. The various benchmarks measures and comparisons


that have become the mark ofwestern culture reveal a depressing picture of childhood; one in which concerns about the mental health of our children abide. Trends reveal an alarming increase in youth depression, in anxiety often expressed as self-harm or eating disorders and in violence towards others. we note the increase in the diagnoses of aDhD


(or is it attachment disorder?) and despite the debate that rages, recognise the increasing concerns about behaviours which distract and impede progress and become barriers to the formation of relationships and life in community. although i acknowledge our increasing


application of a medical model and leanings towards pharmacological solutions to diagnosed conditions, particularly in the last 30 years, this alone cannot account for the “unhappiness” of our children or for the mounting concern about their social and emotional health and wellbeing, as well as their physical health. we must re-evaluate the provision we make and


give relationships a higher profile than sometimes the overburdened curriculum and culture of testing and comparison allows.


Research on the brain shows the connection


between our hard-wired fight, flight, freeze and responses with the mental health issues of anger, anxiety and depression. our desire to flock together is often a response to fear, l would argue fear of not belonging. at the heart, as well as head, of these responses is the absence of warm, appropriate and healthy relationships. as our health is somewhat determined by the


way we see the world, our social construction, and is a subjective experience, so perceptions also matter. Mental health issues are fundamentally concerned with security and we may need to recognise that social and economic change and the speed of that change results in insecurity and produces emotions and therefore behaviours that cause concern. so what are the changes in society that we need to


reflect upon and what is the possible impact of these on our children’s mental health? what sort of childhood has our materialist, “instant fix”, consumer-orientated, narcissistic society produced? is that overstating the case? Perhaps not. what has the promotion of rights above


responsibility agendas resulted in? a culture of fear and self-protection perhaps?what part does fear play? Fear of letting teenagers explore and take risks, even of letting them out of adult sight?where in fact do young adults socialise outside of school? Fear of creating acceptable boundaries for children and correcting unacceptable behaviour – fear of litigation! what part do the media play in the promotion


of fear, in the creation of celebrity culture and the notion of acceptability and not least in advertising to impressionable minds? can we even grasp or control the extent, scope and effect of social media marketing to our teenagers?what messages do changes to family structure and lifestyles give to children and what emotional response result from these? These social and highly emotional notions and the


effects of change to communities and support systems are undoubtedly contributing to the increase in mental health issues in our children. Time to reflect on these issues is imperative, but the challenge is knowing what can we do about it and then having the courage to do it.


SecEd


• Barbara Knowles is executive director of the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association, which represents the behaviour, disaffection and mental health difficulties field at regional and national level.


Further information


Barbara Knowles will be speaking at the Nasen Live event, which takes place in Bolton on wednesday and Thursday next week (May 25 and 26) when she will be exploring some of the interventions and strategies that can be used to understand and manage behaviour, including solution-focused approaches, and constructive conversations with children and their parents. The session is called Behavioural, emotional and social Difficulties and runs from 10.30am on the wednesday. Visit www.nasenlive.org.uk


SecEd • May 19 2011


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