Mental Health: Education

(asked on 31st January 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to include a module on safeguarding mental health in the national curriculum.


Answered by
Edward Timpson Portrait
Edward Timpson
This question was answered on 6th February 2017

Good mental health and wellbeing are a priority for the Department. We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential, both academically and in terms of their mental health.

We want to provide all children and young people with a curriculum that prepares them for success in modern Britain. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education can help to provide pupils with the key skills and knowledge that can ensure their future success. All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and we have outlined this expectation in the introduction to the new National Curriculum.

The Government’s current approach is for schools to develop their own local PSHE programme to reflect the needs of their pupils, drawing on resources and evidence provided by expert organisations.

To support schools in developing their PSHE curriculum, we have funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans to teach about mental health, which are available online at: www.pshe-association.org.uk/curriculum-and-resources?ResourceTypeID=3).

On 9 January, the Prime Minister announced that the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Health would publish a Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health; and that the DfE will pilot randomised control trials of preventative measures across three different approaches to mental health promotion and prevention.

We are committed to exploring all the options to improve the delivery of PSHE, and the case for further action is actively under review, with particular consideration to improving quality and accessibility. We have also committed to update Parliament further on the Government’s plans during the passage of the Children and Social Work Bill.

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