FEATURE FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING
Prevention is the best cure
children aged 11 to 15 “self-exclude” from bullying, cyberbullying, racism, mental health and other prevalent issues.’
Having experienced firsthand the effects of this drives my passion for improving the life trajectories, wellbeing and mental health of young people. Everyone deserves a good education and a happy, safe adolescence. Schools play a huge role in this of course - the government itself stresses the importance of a supportive school environment in the mental health and wellbeing of many young people. It’s right to do so: sadly, approximately one quarter of primary-aged children and a fifth of secondary-aged children report being bullied at some stage.
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n our third feature this month looking at mental health and wellbeing in schools we speak to Stephen Willoughby, creator of The Student Voice, an interactive and child-friendly reporting tool that has been designed to help young people report an issue anonymously and confidentially.
As someone who left full-time education at the age of 13 due to severe bullying, I thought I may be somewhat of a unique case, but sadly, ‘16,000
The question is, what role do the schools play in encouraging well-being and good mental health? Good pastoral care is paramount for any educational environment, to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students, but really quality pastoral care focuses not just on the academic and social but also the personal, creating positive, connected support systems that encourage and empower young people. 70% of young people feel that their school is interested in their wellbeing, according to The Children’s Society - and this is great. How can we raise this to 100% and ensure all young people feel their safety and wellbeing is being prioritised? To me, there are three main issues with some of the more traditional ways of handling wellbeing and safeguarding.
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www.education-today.co.uk Barriers to reporting
The Children’ Society state that 70% of school children say that there is at least one adult in their school they could speak to about mental health issues. Great – but that still leaves 30% who don’t and that’s well over three million young people who don’t have someone they feel they can talk to in school.
In fact, studies show that over half (54%) of young people don’t report an issue of bullying to a grown up. Dr. Carlene Firmin’s (2017) research, Everyone’s Invited and the Ofsted report into sexual abuse in schools suggests that students may not readily share such information with adults as their social rules and environment favour them to stay silent.
There are several potential reasons for these barriers: admitting the bulling makes it real, for a start. There will often be a fear of repercussions. There could also be a fear that things won’t be believed, or there may be a lack of trust in teachers. As adults, we perhaps also undermine the difficulty of disclosing something extremely uncomfortable face-to-face to grown-ups. We need to therefore look at modern systems and procedures that make it easier and more accepted for people to report a threat to wellbeing. This means creating safe spaces for young people to come forward. By providing a truly safe and private space to report an issue, be it mental health, sexual harassment, bullying, home life or online safety. This will help overcome fear of peers or mistrust in adults.
September 2023
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