Why should we be learning about mental health in schools?

“Mental Health is a universal human right …”

By Rochelle Borton, Founder and Managing Director of EduInfluencers

The Pandemic challenged the way schools operated, how teachers interacted with students and most importantly, how children learnt. Most adults can remember lunchtimes filled with laughter, tears and time spent with their friends. Every student between the ages of 5 and 15-years have experienced online and remote learning. The effect that prolonged and targeted lockdowns have had on children’s learning is now evident in the demand for mental health support in schools. 

School leaders and teachers were proactive with creative strategies in efforts to maintain contact with students and their families. The work of these school leaders and teachers was a clear sign that students need ongoing mental health support. Importantly, schools identified the importance of positive mental health for students and their families.  

Learning about mental health in schools is like the adage of teaching (a person) how to fish and having regular food rather than giving (a person) a fish. In the same way children had to learn new skills during remote and online learning, it is time for students to learn about mental health in schools.

Strategies that teach positive mental health skills are already being used in schools across the nation. Students are increasingly being affected by natural disasters, further highlighting the need to learn about mental health. Social media and the shadows of the internet can also pull students into a spiral of poor mental health.  

The National study of Mental Health and Wellbeing (2021) identified that in the almost 1 in 7 (14%) children and adolescents aged 4-17 years are estimated to have experienced a mental illness. During the same period, females aged 16-34 years experienced very high psychological stress. Anxiety disorders were the most common. 

Social media apps continue to update, add new features, indiscriminately pushing young people into a world of ‘likes,’ trends and viral spreading of photos, sound bites and video. Mobile devices link young people to other young people around the world. The anxiety inducing need to immediately respond to messages and posts can mean that young people are trading sleep to be online. 

Though must be given as to how children, and at what age do they first access the internet. This is the key to supporting children in learning how to be safe online and how to be aware of mental health. It may be a harmless game that entertains a young child, on a device. Athletic coaches teach about ‘muscle memory’ and in the same way, young children playing a game on an iPad is shaping how they hold the device to best use it.

As children get older, the phone becomes an extension of the arm, and emotions. Built on the muscle memory of holding an iPad, the way you hold the phone, type on the phone enables easy access to the wonders and dangers of the internet. Often fingers type faster than the developing brain can process. The harm to mental health is felt later.

It is accurate that no one can hear you cry in space, but every parent should be aware of what their children are expressing through social media. Parents and caregivers have the control as to what age their children have use of mobile device, and how the device is used. This can be challenging but must be managed first, in the home. Schools also have a role to teach students how to use the internet safely. In the first years of schooling students will use tablets and other mobile devices to access learning material.

Every school jurisdiction has secure internet access. Students are given a personal login, required to access the internet and learing platforms. Access to websites is monitored and filtered at a system level. Every device is locked into a system level use. 

It is becoming common practice for schools to ban the use of mobile phones at school, with the access to social media on schooling networks and devices not permitted. NSW is the latest to enforce a statewide ban on students using mobile phones in schools.

As we progress in a society high on tech, we also have a level of control and power when it comes to our family and their online presence. It is clear that children can be taught how to access and use the internet safely. Modern phones are more powerful than the first computers. High-speed internet can explode most anything onto a computer and mobile device screen. However, supervision is needed as well as setting responsible online boundaries. Identify the mental health risks of the digital world, and be mindful of mental health challenges associated.