The BERA Guide to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools
Exploring Frontline Support in Educational Research and Practice
News
World Mental Health Day 2024
Thursday, 10th October is World Mental Health Day.
Mental illness affects an estimated 950 million people worldwide, and is the leading cause of disability across all age groups.
BERA recognises the significance of mental health in shaping positive educational outcomes and calls for sustained attention to the mental health needs of learners, teachers, and the wider educational community.
This year’s theme set by the World Federation of Mental Health is workplace mental health. The theme highlights the importance of addressing mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, for the benefit of people, organisations, and communities.
The BERA Mental Health, Wellbeing and Education SIG has put together the following links:
- The Mental Health Foundation has resources, help and advice, and ways to get involved here
- The Mentally Healthy Schools website has resources that members may find useful here
- The mission of Education Support is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff. They support individuals and help schools, colleges and universities to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their staff. They also carry out research and advocate for changes in Government policy for the benefit of the education workforce. Find out more here and for help for anyone working in education here
Please see below for further BERA resources, including blog posts, event videos and reports.
Autumn 2022
Research Intelligence issue 152: SOS (Save Our Staff): Protecting & enhancing staff wellbeing in education
Mental Health, Wellbeing and Education
Working together for a whole-education approach to mental health and wellbeing
Tipping point: The staff wellbeing crisis in higher education
Click here to readPodcast: Time To Prioritize Mental Health In The Workplace: Teacher Mental Health And Wellbeing
Click here to listenHolistically healthy humans: championing mental and physical wellbeing in education
Health does not operate at a singular level; mental and physical health are inextricably linked. Our physical body depends on our mental state and vice versa and improvement or decline in one area...
Branching Out: Mobilising community assets to support the mental health and wellbeing of children in primary schools
Children's mental health is a pressing concern, with recent data suggesting 18 per cent of children aged 7–16 years in England have been diagnosed as having a probable mental health disorder...
All together now: How mental health support for university in the North West of England is being reframed
There are days that resonate with a whole nation: for the French, le quatorze juillet is forever Bastille Day, while for Americans, the fourth Thursday in November represents Thanksgiving. In...
Visual reflective journaling: A tool for promoting self-care and ethical research practices for teacher-researchers
Researchers not only need but also deserve to care for their body-selves (Ellingson, 2017), particularly given the inherent challenges and stressors that come with engaging in research and...
Understanding and improving the wellbeing of postgraduate taught students: A longitudinal study
Research from around the globe has highlighted that university student wellbeing is lower than that of the general adult population (see for example Adlaf et al., 2001; Larcombe et al., 2014), and...
Education on the Breadline: Mental Wellbeing and the Cost-of-Living Crisis
One in six children in England aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in 2021 – five children in every classroom. We also know that children’s subjective...
The role of schools in the mental health of children & young people
This report presents a comprehensive review of the existing evidence on school-based approaches to mental health. It covers what is meant by mental health and wellbeing, and why this is...
Wellbeing through the expressive arts: Supporting both student teachers and pupils in the classroom
During the Covid-19 pandemic emerging evidence showed the toll that the pandemic was having on the mental health of children (Anna Freud, 2020). We developed a module for our primary student...
GCSEs and test anxiety: Exploring secondary teachers’ perspectives
The government took the next step in getting back to ‘normal’ in 2023, as students in England sat examinations subject to pre-pandemic assessment routines for the first time. In so doing, the...
Educational Interventions for Wellbeing
Individual papers presented under the theme Mental Health, Wellbeing and Education Chairs: Dominic Wyse IN THIS SESSION Grief Matters - exploring the impact of bereavement and grief on learning...
Education, mental wellbeing and the cost-of-living crisis: Bridging research and practice
The rising cost of living is causing high levels of stress and concern for millions of households. For educators, poverty is tangible in the growing numbers of hungry, cold and tired pupils...
Grief matters
Exploring the impact of bereavement & grief on learning for all
A curriculum for wellbeing: Improving all aspects of wellbeing in curricula & schools
How should the wellbeing of both pupils and staff be integrated into curriculum development? This collection, edited by Victoria Pugh, presents answers to this question from a diverse range of...
‘Being well’ and ‘doing well’: Exploring the relationship between student and teacher wellbeing
There is a tendency to see teacher wellbeing and student wellbeing as competing concerns in school leadership and culture. What teacher wellbeing and student wellbeing have in common is the...
Wellbeing and being outdoors
There has recently been a surge of interest in the links between outdoor learning and wellbeing. The global education community has been sharing inspirational work that aims to support educators...