State of the Nation report highlights positive impact of keeping schools open, with millions more to be invested in senior mental health lead training
Thousands of children and young people in England are benefitting from support for their mental health and wellbeing in education, as new research shows an improving picture in their recovery from the pandemic.
The Department for Education has today (8 February) published its third annual State of the Nation report, providing an in-depth picture of the experiences of children and young people aged 5 to 24 throughout the pandemic during the 2020/21 academic year.
To mark Children’s Mental Health Week, the report shows children and young people’s wellbeing is gradually improving, despite the challenges that remain.
There is a link between regular attendance at school and college and positive wellbeing across all groups of children and young people, highlighting the positive impact of face-to-face learning.
For the first time it also provides data on their views about wider society and their futures, including their worries about staying safe online.
The new report comes as nearly 400 mental health support teams will be accessible to almost three million school and college pupils in England by 2023, surpassing the commitment made in the 2017 Mental Health Green Paper.
More than 8,000 eligible schools and colleges have applied for a senior mental health lead training grant since applications opened, with an additional £3 million to be provided to extend this training to more schools and colleges given high demand, so that everyone eligible who wishes to access training before the end of May will be able to.
Children and Families Minister, Will Quince said:
Funding for the online platform Student Space, led by Student Minds, will also be extended to July 2022 to support university students’ mental health and wellbeing in England and Wales. Since August 2020, it has helped many young people navigate their studies through the challenges created by the pandemic.
Minister for Higher and Further Education, Michelle Donelan said:
The Government has also announced additional funding worth £11 million for its Reducing Parental Conflict programme, which funds councils across England to create bespoke relationship support for parents in their communities, helping to improve mental health and wellbeing.
The funding will help develop innovative new projects that target children and parents most in need or continue successful existing projects. It comes as the State of the Nation report found that while the majority of young people had a good relationship with their family on average, children who indicated they had a poorer relationship with their parents were more likely to have a mental health problem.
The new funding can be used by councils to train frontline staff working closely with families in sectors such as policing, schooling, health and social care, so they know how to spot parental conflict and can step in to support parents and ensure children do not suffer as a consequence. It builds on £47 million already allocated to the programme which has supported thousands of families since launching in 2018.
DWP Lords Minister Baroness Stedman-Scott said:
Other key drivers and trends in the State of the Nation Report include:
The data on online safety is the first time such a theme has been noted in the State of the Nation report and highlights the importance of supporting young people to keep safe online. With today marking Safer Internet Day, the government and organisations across the country are coming together to raise awareness of how to help children and young people navigate the virtual world safely and positively.
Online safety is a key component of the mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum, teaching young people about privacy online, how to protect themselves and about respectful relationships – online as well as in person.
The Department for Education is also working with the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza to support parents with helping their children use the internet safely. Ministers and the Children’s Commissioner recently met with technology companies to ask them to do more to keep young people safe and be more transparent with their data ahead of the Online Safety Bill coming into effect.
Minister for Mental Health Gillian Keegan said:
The data presented in the State of the Nation report draws upon published information from a range of government, academic, voluntary, and private sector organisations across the 2020/21 academic year, and therefore reflects the experience of children and young people in England during that time.
Schools and colleges can continue to book onto courses for senior mental health lead training into April and May 2022. More information on funding for 2022/23 will be provided in the spring. Further information on senior mental health lead training is available here.
The Reducing Parental Conflict programme mostly focuses on disadvantaged families, where factors like both parents being out of work, can exacerbate conflict. Current programmes include interventions linking local authorities, health, education and voluntary sectors to tackle poor mental health and issues such as substance misuse which stem from relationship challenges, including Rochdale’s award-winning ‘Relationship Revolution’, a whole system approach to talk about parental conflict and address their community’s needs. Their joined-up approach has transformed life for families and has since been adopted by other areas in England. Other successful projects have included online relationship support and learning videos, counselling for parents, and toolkits for frontline services.
Councils will be able to bid for a share of the funding for projects from April 2022. Similar levels of investment in the programme will follow in the financial years up to 2025.
Professor Gordon Harold from Cambridge University who launched a landmark report in 2015 on the importance of reducing parental conflict, said:
Cristina Odone, Head of Family Policy at The Centre for Social Justice said: