Mental health: 81% of parents want lessons in schools - as teachers say they lack skills to help students

Teachers say students and parents are turning to them for mental health support and guidance in increasing numbers, but they often don't have the time or skillset to help them all.

New research conducted on behalf of Britvic and wellbeing charity Bounce Forward, released on Tuesday (30 May), found more than half of the parents surveyed - 58% - expressed concerns about their child’s mental resilience and emotional wellbeing.

Four out of five parents - 81% - also believed mental health lessons should be added to the curriculum, alongside subjects like Maths and English, for children in primary and secondary school. Teachers were often the first port of call for struggling parents and pupils alike, with 64% of teachers saying that their students turn to them at least once a week for advice about their wellbeing.

But it was not just students looking to education professionals, with the survey finding 53% of parents would turn to teachers if they were concerned about their child’s mental resilience, whereas only a 34% would turn to their GP.

Jo Mitchinson, head of personal, social, health and citizenship education at Monk’s Walk School in Hertfordshire, told NationalWorld students were turning to teachers for support and guidance with their mental health in increasing numbers.

But despite the classroom being the place both parents and teachers turned to for support, 76% of teachers felt they lacked the time and 33% felt they lacked the skillset to help.

"At the same time specialist services are struggling to cope with demand. Something has to change," she said. "Staff in schools are ideally placed to notice [of] changes in young people and parents frequently report concerns to teachers prior to seeking professional support."

Mitchinson continued: "Teachers want to help but they need the skills and resources to confidently teach mental resilience and emotional well-being." Monk’s Walk school was "lucky", she said, as it already had regular lessons as part of the curriculum, and was able to help teach students to develop the mental resilience they needed.

The Bounce Forward research found 89% of teachers believed they would benefit from additional training in mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, to help students cope with everyday challenges like homework, disagreements with friends or challenges at home. Parents also agreed schools should be better equipped, with 77% believing they needed more resources to help children prepare for mental and emotional challenges in life.

Alongside its research, Britvic has launched a new partnership with Bounce Forward, where employees nominated nearly 150 schools in their communities to receive fully funded support from the mental health charity. The funding will provide schools and their teachers with training to deliver weekly mental resilience and emotional wellbeing lessons.

Bounce Forward CEO Lucy Bailey said while many teachers recognised the need to teach mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, "this type of teaching and learning is not given the space in the curriculum that it deserves".

"Parents and students are looking to the classroom for advice as they struggle in the face of unprecedented mental health challenges, and the disruption to learning and life chances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic," she said. “Now more than ever we need to build psychological fitness in children, young people and the adults around them to ensure a thriving society that can navigate the 21st century.”