Jennifer Spratt

'Part of Who we are as a School Should Include Responsibility for Well-Being': Links between the School Environment, Mental Health and Behaviour

Abstract Drawing from a Scottish study, this article examines ways in which the school environment can impact upon the well-being of pupils and their associated behaviour. It identifies tensions between existing school structures and cultures and the promotion of positive mental health, particularly in relation to the curriculum, pastoral care, discipline and teacher/pupil relationships. In many cases, schools attempt to address mental well-being by bolting fragmented initiatives onto existing systems, and we argue that a more fundamental review of values, policies and practices throughout the school is needed. This paper also looks at the roles of interagency workers in schools, and reports that, in most cases, these workers are seen as offering a parallel service to the mainstream school, targeted at the most troubled or troublesome pupils. We suggest that schools should draw on the skills and understandings of these workers to help build new cultures throughout the school for the benefit of all children and young people.

Enacting inclusion: a framework for interrogating inclusive practice

This study reports on the development and use of an analytical framework for interrogating the practice of newly qualified mainstream teachers recently graduated from a one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) that was informed by a concept of inclusive pedagogy. Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to respond to individual differences between learners but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when some students are treated differently. The analytical framework was based on the principles of inclusive pedagogy, which were linked to the core themes of Aberdeen University’s PGDE course. Its purpose was to provide a robust and coherent framework for documenting inclusive pedagogy in action. This study describes how the framework was developed and used with new teachers in order to further understanding of how reforms of initial teacher education can impact inclusive teaching and learning. The framework was initially designed in the context of a teacher education project but has wider applicability as a research tool for exploring inclusive pedagogy in action. This is particularly relevant to the study of inclusive education in the practical setting of the classroom where there is little guidance to support systematic research on how inclusive education is enacted.

Interprofessional support of mental well-being in schools: a Bourdieuan perspective.

There is increasing international concern about the mental health and well-being of school-aged children, and the school is often seen as the optimum setting to deliver interagency interventions. This paper draws on a Scottish study examining the responses of local authorities, schools and other agencies to challenging behaviour related to poor mental health. It explores the ways in which the presence of workers from other agencies had an impact on the capacity of schools to respond to such issues. In Bourdieuan terms, the study showed that non-teaching workers imported into school developed new forms of ‘habitus’ leading to effective team work to support vulnerable pupils, but that they often operated in isolation from the wider teaching staff. Different professional cultures created significant barriers, which could be exacerbated by active resistance to meaningful engagement. Consequently, parallel working evolved, where staff from agencies other than education supported pupils experiencing difficulties, but there was little evidence of corresponding changes to ethos or pedagogy to meet the needs of pupils in school. Expertise pertaining to the mental well-being of pupils thus tended to be compartmentalized and was not readily transferred elsewhere, and this led to a disjointed experience for pupils. Our evidence strongly suggested that teachers preferred to learn from other teachers. This served to reinforce existing habitus and to isolate them from new ways of thinking. Potential ways of effecting culture change are suggested, through innovative training and development, linked to accountability, to challenge the new mode of parallel working before it becomes the status quo.

Evidence‐based practice and teacher action‐research: a reflection on the nature and direction of ‘change’

This study was conceived as an opportunity to reflect on the place of action-research in the contested landscape of educational change in the UK where increasing emphasis has been put on the use of evidence to drive reform. In the context of a government-sponsored project in Scotland, this study looked at the impact of a scholarship initiative supporting classroom teachers to undertake action-research projects on a topic of their own choice with the assistance of a mentor. Data collected from interviews with teachers and analysis of teacher action-research reports pointed to a multi-faceted concept of practice unfolding from individual inquiry and dialogical conversations with colleagues and university mentors. The study argues for further analysis of the use of action-research as a means to develop teachers’ knowledge and to recover the value of collective and creative engagements in education to guide reform.

‘We are the ones that talk about difficult subjects’: nurses in schools working to support young people’s mental health

As health professionals in an educational setting, nurses in schools occupy a unique place in the spectrum of children’s services. Yet the service is often overlooked and has been described as invisible. This paper draws on findings from a study, funded by the Scottish Government’s National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well‐being, which explored the role of school nurses in promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people. The school nursing service throughout the United Kingdom is at a pivotal point as its role is being redefined to align with moves across the National Health Service towards a public health model. This paper therefore offers a timely overview of the mental health work of school nurses, and raises key issues for future work. Interviews were conducted with 25 school nurse managers across Scotland. Interviewees claimed that the contribution of nurses in schools was distinctive, owing to the quality and consistency of relationship that they could offer, and the autonomy that the service allowed young people. However, significant challenges were reported in making this contribution, and tensions were evident in the conceptualisation of their role. The framework of resilience is used to discuss the findings on the significance of building relationships in promoting mental health.

Embedded yet separate: tensions in voluntary sector working to support mental health in state run schools

The policy agenda of the UK government has repositioned the voluntary sector as a key player in the delivery of locally responsive, ‘bottom up’ services to address the complex problems of social exclusion, reaching out to sectors of the community which are beyond the grasp of traditional state or market providers. This has drawn many voluntary sector organizations into new forms of partnership with statutory bodies. This article draws from a Scottish study to explore the role of voluntary sector organizations working in schools to support the mental well‐being of children and young people. A framework to interrogate the data from case studies is provided by the Scottish Executive, who rehearse four main advantages of such partnerships between state and the voluntary sector. The article concludes that whilst voluntary sector organizations can and do deliver support to children and young people in innovative ways on the margins of school life, the power differential within the school structure makes their position too vulnerable to bring about quick or substantial change.

Developing inclusive practice in Scotland : the National Framework for Inclusion

This paper reports on the collaborative development of a ‘National Framework for Inclusion’ under the auspices of the Scottish Teacher Education Committee by a working party representing each of the Scottish Universities providing initial teacher education. Recent research, international legislation and Scottish education policy have refocused the notion of ‘special educational needs’ based on ideas of individual deficit to support and provision for all learners. As teachers are therefore charged with responsibility for an increasingly diverse population of learners, the National Framework of Inclusion was developed to support both pre-service and qualified teachers to work inclusively to provide fair and meaningful experiences for all learners. The paper examines the underpinning principles of the Framework, describes the collaborative process of its development and provides one innovative example of its use.

Choosing your Friends: Young People Negotiating Supporting Relationships

This paper explores questions of the agency and voice of young people in the negotiation of supportive relationships with adults, and the example of youth mentoring as one form of ‘professional friendship’. It discusses the role of such relationships in the current context, and highlights gaps in knowledge about the value of the concept. The paper suggests that an understanding of young peoples perspectives on their relationships with adults offers a framework to interrogate how supports are structured which could inform future interventions. Data from three studies undertaken by the authors suggests that young people are strategic in their help-seeking, turning to different people at different times for different purposes and frequently seeking out egalitarian styles of relationship. It also highlights that young people are wary of being labelled ‘a problem’, leading some to avoid use of services which they perceive as carrying stigma or threatening their anonymity. Finally, the paper argues that young people prefer to choose whom to speak to rather than to be allocated. It asks how these perspectives can be addressed by professionals and others working with young people, and suggests a need for frameworks which take more account of young people as active participants in their own development.

Appendix – Research Methods

The arguments developed throughout the book were informed by a research study which I conducted for my PhD. Rather than interrupt the flow of the discussions with details of the research methodology and methods, I have added extra detail here as an appendix, for those who may be interested in the structure of the study and the approaches taken to date collection and analysis.

The School as a Location for the Promotion and Support of Mental Health: Papers from a UK Seminar Series

It is clear that the mental health of young people has become a preoccupation of research, policy and practice in an increasing number of Western societies, and this has led to more informed debates at a range of levels. This special issue draws together a range of new research approaches to interventions which seek to address these concerns within formal educational settings. In the UK recent concerns about the mental health of children and young people (Green et al, 2005) have given rise to legislative and policy responses, many of which focus on the role the school can play in promoting and supporting the mental well-being of pupils (Scottish Executive, 2004, 2007; DfES, 2004), through both targeted and universal approaches. This coincides with a shift in the delivery of children’s services towards greater integration between the public sectors of health, education and social services, with additional input where appropriate from voluntary sector agencies to provide a ‘joined-up’ service centred on the needs of individual children and their families (Scottish Executive, 2001; DfES, 2004). Often the school has a central role to play as the hub of the interlinked professional groups. However, for schools to widen their remit to include a responsibility for children and young people’s mental health represents a considerable shift in the boundaries between the public and the private sphere, which may be viewed by some as an encroachment on areas previously seen as the responsibility of the family. Schools are traditionally settings where pupils are the passive recipients of things which are ‘done to’ them, most key decisions being made on their behalf by school staff. This raises questions about the implications for children and their families when schools begin to claim joint ownership of something as personal and individualised as mental health. This special issue of Advances in School Mental Health Promotion draws on findings from a series of seminars held in the UK which sought critically to examine the role of the school in supporting and promoting mental health. The series of four seminars entitled The School as a Location for the Promotion and Support of Mental Health Editors’ Note, Special Issue: Perspectives from the United Kingdom