Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to consider support for the (a) mental health and (b) wellbeing of students in the national curriculum as part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.

As part of the curriculum, teaching about mental health has been part of the statutory health education, taught as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum since 2020. We are currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance, including the content on mental health.

The government established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review in July 2024 to shape a curriculum that is rich, broad, inclusive, and innovative. As part of this, the Review wants to ensure that the assessment system captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum. This includes the right balance of assessment methods, whilst maintaining the important role of examinations.

The interim findings were published in March and acknowledged the importance of ensuring that the content, volume and frequency of assessments are not unnecessarily burdensome for students or teachers. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.