Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at the coverage of the first State of the Nation on report on Children and Young People’s Wellbeing.
State of the Nation Report
Today, Thursday 10 October, World Mental Health Day, the Government published its first State of the Nation report on the wellbeing of children and young people. This report will be published annually in order to highlight trends and concerns in young people’s mental wellbeing to inform future policy. This was covered by BBC, Mail online, The Times, Independent and Schools Week.
The report looks at factors that impact happiness and life satisfaction in children and young people in the UK, and focuses on mental health in teenage girls.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
The pressures young people face today both in and out of school are vastly different to those their parents and grandparents experienced, so we need to listen to what they have to say and act on it.
That’s why our new compulsory new health and relationships education will teach pupils from an early age how to build their resilience, notice changes in their wellbeing and how to form healthy relationships, starting with their friends at school. We are also ramping up professional mental health support in schools so that when there is a problem, help is available quickly.
It’s encouraging that the overwhelming majority of children say they are happy, but we have a responsibility to do better for those that aren’t. We have given teachers the power to tackle bad behaviour like bullying so that school is a safe place for every child to thrive, but today’s report helps shine a light on where to focus these efforts.
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