‘Stretched’ teachers are being forced to stop lessons every day to help pupils with mental health problems, a worrying report has revealed.
The research, which surveyed more than 1,000 primary and secondary teachers across Britain, found that three-quarters considered children’s psychological needs more important than teaching at least once a week.
And almost a quarter of these teachers said they had to do this every day.
Such disruptions may include interrupting classes to help the child in need, or making adjustments in the classroom to help the child.
Experts today warned that the findings provide ‘further evidence of a spiraling mental health crisis among young people’ and called on the Government to urgently deliver on its pledge to provide specialist support in schools.
The research, which surveyed more than 1,000 primary and secondary teachers in the UK, found that three-quarters considered children’s psychological needs more important than teaching the curriculum at least once a week.
Laura Blunt, chief executive of the charity YoungMinds – which carried out the research – said: ‘Every day, teachers are juggling teaching and supporting students’ mental health.
‘They are taking time away from classes because young people desperately need help.
‘This new research provides further evidence of a spiraling youth mental health crisis and exposes the damaging impact this is having on students and teachers.
‘The Government can ease the pressure on teachers by rolling out open access early support hubs in every community as quickly as possible, so young people can get early help for their mental health.
‘We also need more mental health services in schools and to rebalance the education system so that wellbeing becomes a priority alongside academic achievement.’
According to the research, more than two-thirds of teachers (69 percent) also suffered from this Students’ mental health has deteriorated since joining the profession.
Nearly half (49 percent) say that of students who need help, only a quarter or less receive the support they need.
James Bowen, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: ‘Schools increasingly need to step in and fill the gap left by underfunded mental health services.
‘With hundreds of thousands of young people waiting for specialist support, school staff have no choice but to step in and help pupils as best they can.’
Dozens of studies have also recently highlighted how the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have stunted children’s development and potentially exacerbated mental health problems.
Young people from all economic backgrounds have suffered setbacks in their emotional and social development, researchers have found.
Unprecedented stay-at-home measures and school closures were among the key policies introduced at the start of the pandemic and have massively disrupted children’s lives.
Responding to the report, NHS England today said it was treating 55 per cent more under-18s than before the pandemic.
A joint 2022 survey of 1,130 teachers conducted by children’s mental health charity Place2Be and the National Association of Head Teachers also found there has been an increase in emotional and mental health problems among students since the pandemic .
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A spokesperson added: ‘We know that much more needs to be done to reduce unacceptably long patient waiting times and ensure that every young person who needs it has access to specialist mental health care.
‘We have added an additional 40,000 mental health staff and plans are in place to ensure that more than one in two pupils and students in schools and colleges have access to an NHS mental health team in the UK by spring 2025 class, far ahead of the original goal.’
The Children’s Commissioner for England revealed earlier this year that almost 950,000 children have been referred to NHS mental health services in 2022/2023.
Due to the large geographical differences in waiting times across the country, children also waited an average of 147 days in Sunderland.
By comparison, the average was just four days in Southend.
In August, worrying new figures revealed that the number of children referred for specialist anxiety treatment has doubled in just four years.
More than 200,000 children in England – or 4,000 each week – were waiting for treatment last year.
This is more than 100,000 more than in 2019/2020, when there were almost 99,000 in the queue.
It also follows official statistics showing that almost a quarter of children in England now have a ‘probable mental disorder’.
The number of these disorders, recorded from responses to a questionnaire among eight to sixteen year olds, had increased from one in five the year before.