On 22 February 2024, the House of Lords is due to consider the following:

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party) to move that this House takes note of the role of schools in caring for the mental health and wellbeing of pupils, and assisting in their development as community and family members.

Education and health are both devolved. This briefing will consider the provision of services in England.

1. Mental health and wellbeing in schools

1.1 Children’s Commissioner for England’s ‘Big ask’ survey

A 2021 survey of children conducted by the Children’s Commissioner for England found the majority described their mental health and wellbeing at school positively. The Children’s Commissioner published the results of the survey of over 500,000 children in September 2021 concerning their wellbeing and mental health, as well as their experience of education.[1] This survey was conducted during a period when restrictions on social mixing introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic were still in place. The survey found that the majority of 9–17 year olds were:

  • happy with their life overall (71%)
  • happy or okay with their mental health (80%)
  • happy with their school or college life (84%)

The same survey found that the majority of 6–8 year olds were happy with their life overall (94%).

1.2 Children experiencing poor mental health

While most children were happy with their experience at school, separate studies have shown there has also been a rise in the number of children experiencing poor mental health. In November 2023, NHS Digital estimated that about 20.3% of 8–16 year olds had a probable mental disorder.[2] This was the most recent of a series of surveys previously conducted in 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022. NHS Digital said there had been a rise in the prevalence of probable mental disorder between 2017 and 2020 across all age groups, rising from 12.1% of 7–16 year olds to 16.7%.[3] However, it found this had remained stable between 2022 and 2023.[4] In February 2024, the Royal College of Psychiatrists said there had been a 53% increase in the number of children in mental health crisis over the last four years.[5]

In February 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) published a report on the wellbeing of children and young people during the 2021/22 academic year.[6] This report found children’s subjective wellbeing (how they described how they felt) had declined in 2020 but then recovered to close to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 and 2022. However, the report also found that anxiousness among both primary and secondary-age pupils appeared to have increased during the 2020/21 academic year.

In December 2023, Parentkind, a charity which supports parent-teacher organisations, published the results of ‘The national parent survey 2023’.[7] This survey found the top three concerns parents had for their children’s mental health and wellbeing were anxiety, children spending too much time on electronic devices, and exam stress.[8]

1.3 Impact of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing in schools

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic remains an ongoing issue affecting the mental health of children. In 2022, the education charity the Education Endowment Foundation reviewed the evidence concerning the impact of Covid-19 related disruption on pupils.[9] The evidence suggested that the pandemic had negatively impacted children’s mental health.[10] The review also concluded that teachers had identified mental health as a “significant challenge” in the classroom.[11] In June 2023, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London’s Institute of Education showed that nearly half of parents (47%) reported that their child’s social and emotional skills had worsened during the first year of the pandemic.[12]

The pandemic has also had a negative impact on school attendance. In November 2023, the Children’s Commissioner for England published the results of an audit of attendance at schools.[13] This found the number of children regularly missing school had more than doubled compared to before the pandemic. The report also found pupil absence had become “endemic” at key stage 4, with over a third of all pupils either persistently or severely absent for at least one year.[14] The Children’s Commissioner for England described the reasons for these absences as complex. However, one of the reasons that children interviewed for the report gave for absence from school was the need for support for mental health issues.

1.4 Government support for mental health services in schools

The government has committed to improving the mental health of children and young people. In December 2017, the government published ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: A green paper’.[15] The green paper included proposals to establish mental health support teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges, jointly delivered by NHS England and the Department for Education. It also proposed the establishment of designated senior leads for mental health and new NHS-funded mental health support teams in schools and colleges. In July 2018, following a consultation, the government confirmed it would implement these proposals.[16]

In an update in November 2023, the government stated there were around 400 MHSTs operating in schools and colleges, covering an estimated 3.4 million children, approximately 35% of pupils.[17] The government has said it is aiming to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils in England by April 2025.[18] More recently, in January 2024, the parliamentary under secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, Maria Caulfield, told the House of Commons that the government was “on track” for MHSTs to cover “just under 50%” of pupils by March of 2024.[19]

The government began offering a grant to schools and colleges of £1,200 for training senior mental health leads in October 2021.[20] It has said funding would be available to “around a third” of all eligible state-funded schools and colleges in England in the 2021/22 financial year.[21] The government has also committed to offering senior mental health lead training to all eligible state-funded schools and colleges by 2025. In its ‘NHS long term workforce plan’, published in June 2023, NHS England committed to provide more training places to educational mental health practitioners working in mental health support teams in schools and colleges.

In November 2023, the Children’s Commissioner for England called for the rollout of MHSTs to be expedited in order for them to reach all children by 2025.[22] In the same month, the House of Lords debated a motion tabled by Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat) on the current state of mental health support for children and young people in England.[23] During his speech, Earl Russell argued the government should follow the recommendation of the Children’s Commissioner for England and accelerate the roll-out of MHSTs so that they are available for all children by 2025. Responding to Earl Russell, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care Lord Markham restated the government’s commitment to increase the coverage of MHSTs to 50% of children by 2025. He also said that the government’s longer-term goal was to extend this to all children. However, he did not give a date for when the government might achieve this.

The government has said mental health will be included as part of its planned major health conditions strategy.[24] In 2022, the government launched a call for evidence ahead of a proposed new 10-year strategy for improving mental health.[25] However, in May 2023, the government announced in its response to the call for evidence that proposals for improving mental health would be incorporated into its major conditions strategy rather than as part of a separate mental health plan.[26] It has recently said the major conditions strategy is expected to be published “later in 2024”.[27]

Further information on the provision of mental health services to children and young people is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Mental health support for children and young people’ (16 November 2023).

1.5 Counselling services in schools

Some schools provide counsellors to support the mental health and wellbeing of pupils. However, it is not mandatory for schools to provide counselling. The current government guidance for schools on the provision of counselling was published in 2015 and updated in 2016.[28] This states that counselling tends to take the form of qualified counsellors having one-to-one sessions with pupils but can also take the form of trained councillors working with groups of pupils.

The government does not collect statistics on the number of schools that provide counselling. The most recent estimate from the DfE was published in 2015. This found that 62% of teachers surveyed said their schools offered counselling services.[29] A more recent survey of schools and colleges published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy in 2022 found that 73% of respondents said their school offered in-house counselling on site.[30]

In 2017, the Care Quality Commission published the findings of a review of counselling services provided in schools.[31] This found that, where counselling was offered, it was popular with students. However, it also found there were concerns about the quality of counselling support being offered, with school leaders reporting they often did not have the expertise or the time to assure themselves of the quality of the services they had commissioned.

The government has said school-based counsellors play an important role in supporting the mental wellbeing of pupils alongside wider pastoral support.[32] However, the government has said decisions on the kind of support offered to pupils should be decided by schools and can be paid for through the core funding provided to schools, the pupil premium, or other available funding streams. The government has also argued the roll-out of MHSTs and the provision of support for training senior mental health leads will ensure that there is an adequate level of support for mental health in schools.[33]

1.6 Impact of school assessment on the wellbeing of pupils

In January 2023, the House of Lords appointed a committee to consider the education of 11–16 year olds and how schools and colleges were preparing pupils for their future education, training and employment.[34] The House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee published its final report in December 2023.[35] Although the focus of the report was on syllabus reforms the committee said the government needed to make to better prepare pupils for the future world of work, the committee also considered the impact of the current assessment system on pupils. It concluded this system had become “unsustainable”, arguing:[36]

Pupils are now tested purely via exams in many GCSE subjects. Sitting 25 to 30 hours of exams at the end of year 11 is a stressful experience for many pupils, and those who do not excel in this type of assessment have few other opportunities to demonstrate their achievements. This exam burden is disproportionate when all young people must now remain in education or training until the age of 18.

The committee recommended the government should reduce the amount of content in the 11–16 year old curriculum, particularly in GCSE subjects. It also recommended the government should ensure that the type and volume of information published on the performance of schools and colleges balanced “the needs of users against the risk of undesirable outcomes, such as disproportionate pressure on schools and pupils”.[37] The government has yet to publish a response to this report.

2. Development of children as community and family members

2.1 Personal, social, health and economic education

The purpose of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is defined by the PSHE Association as to “help children and young people stay healthy, safe and prepared for life—and work—in modern Britain”.[38] It has also argued that PSHE education “helps pupils to achieve their academic potential”.[39]

The government has said schools are expected to teach PSHE, which it describes as “an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education”.[40] PSHE education in schools refers to a mix of subjects and contains both statutory and non-statutory elements. Since 2020, teaching of the following elements of PSHE have been statutory under the Children and Social Work Act 2017:[41]

  • Relationships education is compulsory in primary schools.
  • Relationships education and sex education are both compulsory in secondary schools.
  • Health education is compulsory in all state-funded primary and secondary schools.

The statutory elements of PSHE are referred to as relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).[42] The remaining non-statutory elements of PSHE education include teaching about careers, economic wellbeing and personal safety. PSHE education also includes teaching about community cohesion. For example, in March 2020, the PSHE association published guidance on teaching inclusion, belonging and addressing extremism for key stages 1 to 4.[43]

On 4 March 2023, the Children’s Commissioner for England published the results of a survey of PSHE and RSHE teaching in schools.[44] It found 91% of all pupils had received PSHE lessons at some point. On the topics pupils tend to be taught, the survey found that:[45]

When asked about which health and staying safe PSHE topics they have learned about, students were mostly likely to report having learned about how to stay safe online (83%) and least likely to have learned about how to be safe out and about (52%). Students were much less likely to report learning about finance and career topics. 32% of students had not learned about any of the finance and career topics and only 8% had learned about financial products.

Further information about financial education in schools is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Financial education in schools’ (24 January 2024).

2.2 Review of relationships, sex and health education

In March 2023, the New Social Covenant Unit published a report entitled ‘What is being taught in relationships and sex education in our schools? A call for a government review’. The New Social Covenant Unit is co-chaired by Miriam Cates (Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge), who commissioned the report. The report raised concerns that RSHE teaching in some schools was age-inappropriate and contained contested information. Ms Cates subsequently raised these concerns during prime minister’s questions on 8 March 2023, arguing schools were teaching relationships and sex education that was “age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate”.[46] Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he shared Ms Cates’s concerns and the government would conduct a review of the statutory guidance on RSHE.

On 31 March 2023, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wrote to teachers confirming that this review would take place.[47] The government has established an advisory panel as part of this review which will:[48]

[…] advise on how to put in place protection from pupils being introduced to things that they are too young to understand properly. The panel will also consider how age ratings can be introduced for different parts of the curriculum.

The government has said it intends to publish the revised statutory RSHE guidance in 2024.[49] In a letter sent in March 2023, Ms Keegan also told schools that they were required to share information on what is taught in RSHE lessons if this is asked for by parents.[50]

In response to the announcement of the review, a statement from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said:[51]

The overwhelming majority of schools are doing nothing more than following the government’s own statutory guidance when it comes to relationships and sex education. It is worth remembering that the current curriculum was subject to extensive consultation before it was introduced. We have seen no evidence to suggest there is a widespread problem with pupils being presented with age-inappropriate materials and if this were the situation, we would expect it to have been picked up on a case by case basis.

2.3 Citizenship education

Citizenship education is included in the national curriculum for secondary schools in England and is compulsory in maintained schools.[52] It also forms the non-statutory framework for teaching in primary schools.[53] The citizenship curriculum for secondary schools includes teaching about the UK political system, including how to engage with it and think critically about political questions.[54] It also includes teaching on other forms of civic engagement. For example, the curriculum for key stages 3 and 4 states citizenship teaching aims to ensure all pupils:

[…] develop an interest in, and commitment to, participation in volunteering as well as other forms of responsible activity, that they will take with them into adulthood.[55]

2.4 House of Lords Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement

In 2018, an inquiry by the House of Lords Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement considered issues including citizenship teaching in England, democratic engagement and participation in civic society. The committee’s report, ‘The ties that bind: Citizenship and civic engagement in the 21st century’, concluded that the way that citizenship was being taught in schools did not adequately encourage “active citizenship”.[56] It argued this was a result of citizenship being taught as part of PSHE education in some schools, rather than as a separate subject.[57] It also concluded Ofsted was not collecting enough information on how citizenship was being taught as part of its inspections.[58] The committee made several recommendations, including that Ofsted should undertake a review of the current provision and quality of citizenship education.

In 2022, the House of Lords Liaison Committee published a follow-up report to the Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement’s 2018 report.[59] The Liaison Committee repeated the recommendation that Ofsted should conduct a review of citizenship education in schools. The government stated in its response to the Liaison Committee’s report that Ofsted was assessing citizenship teaching as part of its general evaluation of personal development in schools.[60]

During an April 2023 Lords debate on the Liaison Committee’s report, the former chair of the House of Lords Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative), criticised Ofsted, arguing it was conflating citizenship education with PSHE and had repeatedly rejected the committee’s recommendation that citizenship should be assessed as a subject in its own right.[61] These concerns were raised again during a debate on life skills and citizenship in the House of Lords on 7 September 2023.[62] Lord Harries of Pentregarth (Crossbench) asked whether the government believed Ofsted adequately distinguished citizenship education from PSHE.[63] Baroness Barran, speaking on behalf of the government, responded that Ofsted looked at citizenship “in relation to both the quality of education and the school’s support for a pupil’s personal development, so at how a school prepares its pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in modern Britain”.[64]

Further information on the committees’ recommendations is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Teaching citizenship and life skills in schools’ (1 September 2023).

3. Read more


Cover image by Stanley Morales on Pexels.

References

  1. Children’s Commissioner for England, ‘The big ask: The big answer’, September 2021. Return to text
  2. NHS Digital, ‘Mental health of children and young people in England, 2023: Wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey’, 21 November 2023. Return to text
  3. NHS Digital, ‘Mental health of children and young people in England 2022: Wave 3 follow up to the 2017 survey’, 29 November 2022. Return to text
  4. NHS Digital, ‘Mental health of children and young people in England, 2023: Wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey’, 21 November 2023. Return to text
  5. Royal College of Psychiatrists, ‘“We cannot allow childhood mental illness to become the new norm”’, 7 February 2024. Return to text
  6. Department for Education, ‘State of the nation 2022: Children and young people’s wellbeing’, February 2023. Return to text
  7. Parentkind, ‘The national parent survey 2023’, 4 December 2023, p 7. Return to text
  8. As above, p 7. Return to text
  9. Education Endowment Foundation, ‘The impact of Covid-19 on learning: A review of the evidence’, May 2022. Return to text
  10. As above, p 3. Return to text
  11. As above. Return to text
  12. Institute for Fiscal Studies, ‘Almost half of children saw their social and emotional skills worsen during the pandemic—and economic turbulence played a role’, 1 August 2023. Return to text
  13. Children’s Commissioner for England, ‘Missing children, missing grades’, 2 November 2023. Return to text
  14. As above, p 5. Key stage 4 includes children aged 14–16. Return to text
  15. Department of Health and Department for Education, ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: A green paper’, December 2017, Cm 9523. Return to text
  16. Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education, ‘Government response to the consultation on transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: A green paper and next steps’, July 2018, Cm 9626. Return to text
  17. Department for Education, ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health implementation programme’, May 2023; and House of Commons, ‘Written question: Educational institutions: Mental health services (330)’, 14 November 2023. Return to text
  18. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Mental health services: Children and young people (200982)’, 24 October 2023. Return to text
  19. HC Hansard, 30 January 2024, col 275WH. Return to text
  20. Department for Education, ‘Senior mental health lead training: Conditions of grant for the 2021 to 2022 financial year’, 5 February 2024. Return to text
  21. As above. Return to text
  22. Children’s Commissioner for England, ‘Missing children, missing grades’, 2 November 2023, p 44. Return to text
  23. HL Hansard, 23 November 2023, cols 830–60. Return to text
  24. Department of Health and Social Care, ‘Major conditions strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework’, 21 August 2023. Return to text
  25. Department of Health and Social Care, ‘Call for evidence for new 10-year plan to improve mental health’, 12 April 2022. Return to text
  26. Department of Health and Social Care, ‘Mental health and wellbeing plan: Discussion paper and call for evidence’, updated 17 May 2023. Return to text
  27. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Mental health services: Children and young people (12136)’, 2 February 2024. Return to text
  28. Department for Education, ‘Counselling in schools: A blueprint for the future’, February 2016. Return to text
  29. Department for Education, ‘National Foundation for Educational Research teacher voice omnibus: Questions for the Department for Education—June 2015’, December 2015, p 5. Figures from the same survey are included in the Care Quality Commission’s ‘Review of children and young people’s mental health services: Phase one report’, October 2017, p 23. Return to text
  30. British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, ‘Results of the 2022 BACP school counselling survey’, 21 August 2022. Return to text
  31. Care Quality Commission, ‘Review of children and young people’s mental health services: Phase one report’, October 2017. Return to text
  32. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Children: Counselling (191546)’, 7 July 2023. Return to text
  33. HC Hansard, 29 January 2024, cols 600–1. Return to text
  34. House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, ‘Call for evidence’, accessed 6 February 2024. Return to text
  35. Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, ‘Requires improvement: Urgent change for 11–16 education’, 12 December 2023, HL Paper 17 of session 2023–24. Return to text
  36. As above, pp 3–4. Return to text
  37. As above, p 84. Return to text
  38. PSHE Association, ‘What is PSHE education?’, accessed 5 February 2024. Return to text
  39. As above. Return to text
  40. Department for Education, ‘Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education’, updated 13 September 2021. Return to text
  41. Department for Education, ‘Introduction: Relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education’, 25 June 2019, p 4. Return to text
  42. PSHE Association, ‘What is PSHE education?’, accessed 5 February 2024. Return to text
  43. PSHE Association, ‘Inclusion, belonging and addressing extremism: New lesson packs for KS1–4’, 2 March 2020. Return to text
  44. Children’s Commissioner for England, ‘Children and RSHE’, 4 March 2023. Return to text
  45. As above. Return to text
  46. HC Hansard, 8 March 2023, col 298. Return to text
  47. Department for Education, ‘Letter from secretary of state for education to schools ref sharing curriculum resources with parents’, 31 March 2023. Return to text
  48. Department for Education, ‘Sex education: What is RSHE and can parents access curriculum materials?’, 24 October 2023. Return to text
  49. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Relationships and sex education (200051)’, 16 October 2023. Return to text
  50. Department for Education, ‘Letter from secretary of state for education to schools ref sharing curriculum resources with parents’, 31 March 2023. Return to text
  51. National Association of Head Teachers, ‘NAHT comments on government’s promised review of sex education’, 8 March 2023. Return to text
  52. Department for Education, ‘National curriculum in England: Citizenship programmes of study for key stages 3 and 4’, 11 September 2013. Return to text
  53. Department for Education, ‘Citizenship programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2’, 16 February 2015. Return to text
  54. Department for Education, ‘National curriculum in England: citizenship programmes of study for key stages 3 and 4’, 11 September 2013. Return to text
  55. As above. Return to text
  56. House of Lords Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement, ‘The ties that bind: Citizenship and civic engagement in the 21st century’, 18 April 2018, HL Paper 118 of session 2017–19, p 5. Return to text
  57. As above, p 30. Return to text
  58. As above, pp 37–8. Return to text
  59. House of Lords Liaison Committee, ‘The ties that bind: Citizenship and civic engagement in the 21st century—follow-up report’, 29 March 2022, HL Paper 179 of session 2021–22. Return to text
  60. As above, p 13. Return to text
  61. HL Hansard, 17 April 2023, col 178GC. Return to text
  62. HL Hansard, 7 September 2023, cols 609–24. Return to text
  63. HL Hansard, 7 September 2023, col 616. Return to text
  64. HL Hansard, 7 September 2023, col 623. Return to text