This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Petition Make mental health education compulsory in primary and secondary schools.
Mental health education is still not part of the UK curriculum despite consistently high rates of child and adolescent mental health issues. By educating young people about mental health in schools, we can increase awareness and hope to encourage open and honest discussion among young people.
More details
1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 - 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder - that is around three children in every class.
There has been a big increase in the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self harm. Over the last ten years this figure has increased by 68%.
More than half of all adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood. Less than half were treated appropriately at the time.
Source: YoungMinds
This petition closed early because of a General Election Find out more on the Petitions Committee website
Parliament debated this topic
This topic was debated on 6 November 2017
Government responded
This response was given on 23 February 2017
We want mental health to be an everyday concern in all institutions. Schools should decide how to teach pupils about mental health developing their own curriculum to reflect the needs of their pupils.
Good mental health and wellbeing is a priority for the Department. We want all our children to fulfil their potential and we want to tackle the burning injustice of mental health problems, so that future generations can develop into resilient, confident adults, equipped to go as far as their talents will take them.
We need to make mental illness an everyday concern for all of us and in every one of our institutions – schools have an important role to play. We want schools to be able to decide themselves how to teach their pupils about mental health- developing 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. (https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/curriculum-and-resources?ResourceTypeID=3).
All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and we have outlined this expectation in the introduction to the new national curriculum.
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.
We have also announced we will be developing a new green paper on children and young people’s mental health to be published later in the year with new proposals for both improving services and increasing focus on preventative activity.
Department for Education
Related activity
MPs question ministers and experts on children and young people's mental health
You may be interested to know that the House of Commons Education and Health Committees are holding a public evidence session on education and children's mental health. The session will take place in Parliament at 9.30am on Wednesday 29 March.
The Committees will question experts on mental health and wellbeing, followed by government ministers from the Department for Education and the Department of Health.
The session is part of the Committees' inquiry into children and young people's mental health and the role of education. The focus of the inquiry is on the role of educational settings in prevention and early intervention.
Watch the evidence session online:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/6add46ea-9e8b-463b-b56c-7eaadfb35e6a?utm_source=Petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=176555&utm_content=inquiry_watch_online
Find out more about the evidence session and the inquiry on Parliament's website:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/health-committee/news-parliament-20151/children-young-people-mental-health-education-ev2-16-17/?utm_source=Petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=176555&utm_content=inquiry_news
More about the Committees
What are the Education and Health Committees?
The Education Committee and the Health Committee look at and question how the Government Departments for Education and Health:
· are run
· spend money
· decide on their policies
Both committees are cross-party committees and are independent of the Government.
You can find out more about the Committees on their websites:
Education Committee: http://www.parliament.uk/education-committee?utm_source=Petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=176555&utm_content=education_committee_page
Health Committee: www.parliament.uk/healthcom?utm_source=Petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=176555&utm_content=health_committee_page
You can follow the Committees on Twitter:
@CommonsEd
@CommonsHealth
These are ‘select committees’. Find out how select committees work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c&feature=youtu.be
Find out about how to get involved in your UK Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/
Share your views on Government plans for young people and mental health
The Government has published a document called a 'green paper' that says what it wants to do about young people and mental health issues.
The Government wants to hear what you think about its ideas. You can find out more and share your views here: https://engage.dh.gov.uk/youngmentalhealth/
Other work in Parliament
On 12 December, MPs debated young people and mental health, including the Government's green paper.
You can read the debate here:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2017-12-12/debates/D6E0A1DC-C296-4936-B4FC-00C36EF89A5E/MentalHealthProvisionChildrenAndYoungPeople
You can watch/ listen to the debate here: http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/e51844af-e2a6-402f-94a9-4721695e8fdb?in=22:17:56