The need for a teacher-led recovery plan reiterated at Healthy MindED ‘21

The need for a teacher-led recovery plan reiterated at Healthy MindED ‘21

Schools North East’s Healthy MindED conference took place on Wednesday and Thursday to coincide with national mental health awareness week and saw a myriad of excellent sessions from a range of speakers, specifically examining the impact that covid has had on schools and students. 

In her opening remarks Professor Dame Sue Bailey (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges) set the tone for the event with the emphasis on the need for the government to utilise a school-led ‘recovery’ plan as “schools know best.” This was a reiteration of what delegates heard at this year’s Schools North East Curriculum conference with Sir Kevan Collins saying that schools must lead the recovery plan. Professor Dame Sue Bailey also co-Chairs the Healthy MindED Commission and very bluntly stated that student and staff wellbeing must be at the forefront of any recovery plan and is as important as any planning for academic ‘catch up’.  There must be the frameworks in place to support staff and students as, much like the curriculum, this will not return to ‘normal’ automatically.  Keynote speaker Andy Mellor pressed for the need for an informed response to the pandemic as teachers desperately need to reflect on where their schools and students currently are and what they need to do differently. 

In regards to how Covid-19 has impacted children’s mental health, the evidence is mixed. Dr Praveetha Patalay, Associate Professor at UCL told delegates that whilst there have been increased difficulties, in some cases those who had pre-existing difficulties have actually fared quite well. It is maybe not much of a surprise that as lockdown has eased there has been an improvement in young people’s mental health with a clearer pattern between primary school children and boosted mental health. Keynote David Trickey from the UK Trauma Council explained the range of trauma which children would have experienced during the crisis as anxieties around the virus, knowing people who had been ill, bereavement, or having had the virus themselves.  

To complement the keynote speakers, there was a panel discussion involving mental health experts and North East school leaders.  On the panel were Dr Praveetha Patalay, Colin Lofthouse (SMART Academies), Kate Chisholm (Skerne Park Academy) and educational psychologist Dr Peter Mulholland. Both Colin and Kate gave similar in-school accounts of the ‘return to school’, that children were somewhat subdued and that the government guidance, despite emphasising the importance of mental health and wellbeing, needed significantly more substance to properly support all schools; and that the support must be contextually relevant with an approach of ‘bottom-up’ not ‘top-down’. 

The health and wellbeing of the children is important but equally and frequently pushed to the back is staff health and wellbeing. These issues should be at the forefront of the decision makers minds when putting together a ‘recovery plan’.  School leaders are best positioned to make decisions on how to properly implement the scaffolding to support staff mental health. Leaders have the most facetime with their school teams and the best understanding of their staff’s wellbeing. 

Second day speaker Johannes Dalhuijsen presented the idea of resilience where it is not just about bouncing back to where you were before but progressing forward. In our summer return survey, the majority of respondents said that staff wellbeing was about the same as it was during the Autumn term, when schools were previously open to all students. The challenge moving forward is for you as teachers, us as drivers for change and policy makers to identify how the general consensus can reflect that staff wellbeing is improving.

There are positives though, Dr Praveetha Patalay outlined that internationally the UK is high for proactively promoting good mental health in schools. The main barriers to this were highlighted as funding, specialist availability and staff capacity. However, the key to success, also mentioned in Dr Peter Mulholland’s session, is the need to create a school climate which supports staff and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. 

Schools North East would like to echo Andy Mellor in saying that the job school leaders, and all staff, have done over the past year has been amazing and it is impressive how they have coped but now is the time to act. It may show that the pandemic has had an adverse impact on disadvantaged children but the effects will be felt by all children. There is an increasing risk that the plans that the government put in place for the return to school are reactive and not proactive. There must be an involvement with school leaders who have already done a fantastic job and fully understand the landscape of the school through working as a part of the fourth emergency over the past year.

The breakout sessions saw a range of fantastic speakers who provided delegates with valuable knowledge to implement into their school.  We would like to thank all those who attended as well as those who hosted sessions in order to make another great Healthy MindED event. 

If you would like to access the keynotes and session recording please register here.