Inquiry to examine links between behaviour and mental health
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (CYPMHC) is launching a new inquiry on behaviour and mental health in schools. The inquiry will focus on the links between mental health and behaviour and how current school policies on behaviour affect young people and their families. It will also seek to understand what schools can do to improve both behaviour and mental health.
The CYPMHC represents the views of over 240 charities, academic institutions and professional bodies campaigning together for the better mental health of babies, children and young people. It is led by Sir Norman Lamb, a former Liberal Democrat politician who served as a health minister between 2012 and 2015.
The inquiry, which will cover England only, follows what the CYPMHC describes as ‘widespread concerns’ about the increased use of approaches such as exclusion and removal rooms to improve behaviour in schools. Department for Education (DfE) research in 2018 found more than half of secondary schools and a minority of primaries were using ‘internal inclusion units’ as a behaviour strategy. The Coalition also says there has been a particular emphasis on behaviour and discipline as children returned to school following the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, amid the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, permanent exclusions dropped by more than a third to their lowest level since 2013. However DfE figures showed exclusions had originally risen in the autumn term of 2019-20, prior to schools being closed for lockdown.
There is a growing mental health need among children and young people, with one in six children and young people aged 6 to 16 experiencing a mental health problem in 2021 compared to one in nine in 2017. The CYPMHC argues that behaviours that challenge can often be the result of underlying conditions, unmet emotional needs, difficulties at home, at school or in the community, and exposure to trauma. The inquiry will seek to understand how addressing the drivers of behaviour can be a critical component of a school’s response.
To mark the launch of the inquiry, the Coalition are publishing a Call for Evidence asking young people, parents and professionals for their views on current behaviour policies and practices. The five-week survey will seek views on current approaches to behaviour management and mental health in schools and how they can be improved. The findings will be used to inform the development of a final report outlining the inquiry’s findings, which is due to be published at the end of the year.
Sir Norman Lamb commented: ‘Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is one of the most pressing issues of our time, especially following the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we are concerned that too often children are punished for behaviour that is linked to their mental health, and that such punishments can cause further harm. We share the Government’s ambition of creating supportive and safe school environments that enable and facilitate learning. Through the inquiry, we want to understand the effectiveness of current approaches to behaviour management and how these impact on young people’s mental health. It is vital that we understand and address the drivers of poor behaviour. Many people are concerned that too often we punish children for the difficulties they face.’
The Call for Evidence can be found via: https://cypmhc.org.uk/behaviour-in-schools/ and will be open until Thursday 10th June 2022.