Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that teachers receive continuing professional development training in supporting young people with their mental health.

It is important to recognise that teachers are not mental health professionals and should not be expected to provide specialist mental health support. However, schools and colleges play a vital role in promoting mental wellbeing, by providing calm, safe and supportive learning environments and helping pupils who need it to access early, targeted support. The department offers a range of training and resources to help teachers do so effectively.

The department is offering all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025, enabling them to introduce effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. Over 14,400 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools, and the department has recently made second grants available for settings who have lost their trained lead. The department’s quality assured training course provides the practical knowledge and skills to implement a whole school or college approach to promoting mental wellbeing. The course also helps senior mental health leads to facilitate the development of school staff, to ensure that all staff can recognise and understand the process to respond to mental health concerns.

The department has recently launched two new resources to help trained mental health leads and wider school and college staff to promote and support pupil mental health, both hosted on the Mentally Healthy Schools site. The resource hub signposts practical resources and tools to embed whole-school or college approaches and the targeted mental wellbeing toolkit gives practical advice and tools to help schools and colleges identify the most effective targeted support options for their setting. The resource hub is available at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/. The target mental wellbeing toolkit is available at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/targeted-support/.

To further support teachers and leaders wanting to expand their knowledge and skills, the department has accredited a range of national professional qualifications (NPQs). These qualifications are designed to provide training and support for teachers and school leaders at all levels and deliver improved outcomes for young people. Teachers and leaders who undertake an NPQ in leading teaching, leading behaviour and culture, or leadership will learn the essential knowledge and skills needed to create a calm, safe and supportive school culture, promoting wellbeing for all pupils and staff.