Do teachers feel equipped to understand and support young people’s mental health?

Guest blog post 

At Edapt, from time to time we are contacted by PhD researchers and Masters students who are completing research and conducting questionnaires about the teaching profession. 

Where possible, we like to support by providing a platform so that school staff can see if they would like to contribute towards new studies. 

Heidi Scaife is completing a masters in MSc Developmental Psychology at the University of Lincoln. She is determined to support and make a change for teachers and children in understanding mental health alongside teacher well-being, and this is the chosen area of her thesis project.  

Rationale for the project 

It has become evident in both practice and research that children’s mental health is becoming an increasing concern. 

Since the revised ‘Relationships and Sex Education’ RSE policy, there are increased expectations to support pupil mental health through recent statutory guidelines, yet minimal research has been done to identify teacher competences and resources to implement. 

In addition, recent research suggests that 1 in 20 teachers had a long-lasting mental health problem, and the Department for Education (DfE) identified the importance of monitoring staff stress and well-being. Therefore, gathering wellbeing measures and qualitative data from teachers will give insight into their perspectives.  

What is the project? 

This project responds to the increased need for children’s mental health support in schools by collecting teachers’ perceptions towards their confidence in supporting and understanding pupils’ mental health and how this might affect their own wellbeing. 

This is conducted through a questionnaire survey. 

The project aims to provide information that will enhance support for both children’s and staff’s mental health and wellbeing in future practice in schools. 

The main research questions are: 

• How does teacher wellbeing relate to their perception of competence and quality of mental health support they provide to pupils? 

• Is the quality of mental health support and believed competencies moderated by level of training? 

• Is the quality of mental health support and believed competencies moderated by years of practice?

Do you want to take part in the project?

Are you working as a primary school teacher in England now? 

If the answer is YES, you are invited to participate in the research project. 

If you would like to take part, please click on the following link:

https://unioflincoln.questionpro.eu/t/AB3u01DZB3vpvW 

References:

Department for Education (2021). Five things you didn’t know about mental health support in schools. Gov.uk. https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2021/05/10/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-mental-health-support-in-schools/ 

Department for Education. (2019). Relationships, Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) a d Health Education: Statutory guidance for governing bodies, proprietors, head teachers, principals, senior leadership teams, teachers.  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62cea352e90e071e789ea9bf/Relationships_Education_RSE_and_Health_Education.pdf 

Freud, A. (2023). Anna Freud.https://www.annafreud.org/   

Graham, A., Phelps, R., Maddison. C & Fitzgerald, R. (2011) Supporting children’s mental health in schools: teacher views. Teachers and Teaching, 17:4, 479-496, https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2011.580525 

 UCL. (2020, January 27). More teachers reporting mental health problems. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/jan/more-teachers-reporting-mental-health-problems   

Zhang, W., He, E., Mao, Y., Pang, S., & Tian, J. (2023). How Teacher Social-Emotional Competence Affects Job Burnout: The Chain Mediation Role of Teacher-Student Relationship and Well-Being. Sustainability (2071-1050), f(3), 2061. https://doi-org.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/10.3390/su15032061