‘Stretched’ teachers are forced to interrupt classes every day to help pupils with mental health problems, a worrying report reveals.
The survey, which interviewed more than 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers across Britain, found that three-quarters put children’s psychological needs before teaching at least once a week.
And almost a quarter of these teachers said they were forced to do so daily.
Such interruptions could involve stopping lessons to help the child in distress or making adjustments in class to help the child.
Experts today warned that the findings provide “further evidence of a growing youth mental health crisis” and called on the Government to urgently deliver on its commitment to provide specialist support in schools.
The survey, which interviewed more than 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers across the UK, found that three-quarters put children’s psychological needs before teaching the curriculum at least once a week.
Laura Blunt, chief executive of the charity YoungMinds, which carried out the research, said: “Every day stretched teachers juggle teaching with supporting pupils’ mental health.
‘They are taking time away from classes because young people desperately need help.
‘This new research provides further evidence of a growing youth mental health crisis and exposes the damaging impact this is having on pupils and teachers.
‘The Government can ease the pressure on teachers by rolling out open access early support centers in every community as soon as possible, so that young people can receive early help for their mental health.
“We also need more mental health support in schools and rebalance the education system so that wellbeing is a priority alongside academic achievement.”
According to the survey, more than two-thirds of teachers (69 percent) also felt Students’ mental health has worsened since they joined the profession.
Nearly half (49 percent) said 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 are increasingly having 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 hampered children’s development and may have exacerbated mental health problems.
Researchers have found that young people from all economic backgrounds have suffered setbacks in their emotional and social development.
The unprecedented stay-at-home orders and school closures were among the key policies introduced at the beginning of the pandemic and greatly disrupted children’s lives.
Responding to today’s report, NHS England said it was treating 55 per cent more under-18s than before the pandemic.
A joint 2022 survey of 1,130 teachers by children’s mental health charity Place2Be and the National Association of Headteachers also found an increase in emotional and mental health problems among pupils since the pandemic.
A spokesperson added: “We know there is much more to do to reduce unacceptably long waits for patients and ensure every young person who needs it can access specialist mental health support.”
“We have added 40,000 additional mental health staff and plans are in place to ensure more than one in two pupils and students in schools and colleges have access to an NHS mental health team in the classroom by spring 2025, well ahead of the original.’
England’s children’s commissioner revealed earlier this year that almost 950,000 children were referred to NHS mental health services during 2022/23.
Marked geographical variations in waiting times across the country also saw children waiting an average of 147 days in Sunderland.
In comparison, the average was just four days in Southend.
In August, worrying new figures also showed that the number of children referred for specialist treatment for anxiety has doubled in just four years.
More than 200,000 children in England (or 4,000 each week) were waiting to start treatment over the past year.
This is more than 100,000 more than in 2019/2020, when almost 99,000 were stuck in the queue.
It also follows official statistics revealing that almost a quarter of children in England now have a “probable mental disorder”.
The rate of these disorders, recorded based on questionnaire responses from children aged eight to 16, increased from one in five the previous year.