The House of Commons Health and Education Committees have today
(Tuesday 2 May 2017) published a report Children and young
people’s mental health – the role of education.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said:
“This report reflects the findings of our own
recent survey of school
leaders which found that half of respondents have had to
cut back on mental health support services for students, such as
counselling and educational psychologists, as a result of the
education funding crisis. Schools and colleges are having to make
significant real-terms cuts in their budgets as a result of
government underfunding. This affects their ability to provide
support services, as well as hitting curriculum provision and
meaning larger class sizes.
“The impact on mental health support is particularly
concerning at a time when the incidence of mental health problems
among young people is increasing. School and college counsellors
play an important role in identifying problems and providing
support at an early stage, referring young people to specialist
local mental health services where necessary. Unfortunately,
these services are also severely underfunded and there are
significant gaps in this provision in many areas. The next
government must fund schools and colleges sufficiently so that
they are able to provide the support their students need, and it
must invest more in specialist mental health care beyond the
school gates.”
