Ministers’ efforts to promote “grit” among children are no substitute for better funded mental health support in England’s schools, according to school leaders and experts.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, claimed inan article for the Daily Telegraphthat more mental health support teams (MHSTs) for schools would “not only halt the spiral towards crisis but cultivate much-needed grit among the next generation – essential for academic success and life beyond school, with all its ups and downs”.
The comments came as Phillipson unveiled £49m toincrease the number of MHSTsand make them available to 60% of children in England’s state schools by spring 2026. The teams of NHS-trained staff are equipped to provide school-wide and individual support for children with mild-to-moderate mental health issues such as social anxiety.
Place2Be, a charity specialising in mental health support for children, said it was seeing record numbers with highly complex needs requiring targeted interventions but who faced long wait times for treatment through the NHS’s child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs).
A spokesperson for the charity said: “Many pupils in schools have needs going beyond the scope of ‘mild to moderate’. So it is vital that these young people, who are also struggling to access Camhs support, can access high-quality, targeted clinical support at their school, which Place2Be provides.
“Rolling out MHSTs to every school is really only one part of the solution, and alone, won’t be enough to truly meet the government’s manifesto commitment of access to specialist support in every school, nor effectively tackle the mental health difficulties facing young people today.”
Labour’s2024 election manifestopledged that all young people would have access to mental health professionals in schools, which the government says it will meet by the end of the current parliament in 2029-30.
Asked what she meant by “grit” on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Phillipson said young people faced multiple challenges “thrown” at them that could be eased by MHSTs operating in schools.
“That’s about getting in there early when young people are struggling, making sure they’ve got access to trained, qualified professionals who can help them manage,” Phillipson said.
The expansion of MHSTs was welcomed by the teaching unions, including the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Education Union (NEU), although many teachers were sceptical how grit could be developed givenefforts by previous governmentsand conflicting research into its value and whether it could be taught.
A review of research conducted for the Education Endowment Fund concluded: “Some non-cognitive skills including ‘grit’ and self-control correlate strongly with outcomes but appear to be more akin to stable personality traits rather than to malleable skills.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said teachers’ top concerns were for reduced waiting times for children to access specialists such as speech and language therapists. “School staff are also desperate to see government tackle the social issues such as poverty and disadvantage that make life chances so unequal,” Kebede said.
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, will shortly publish her annual report on the state of children’s mental health services. Herprevious reportfound that MHSTs dealt with 38,000 cases in 2022-23, with an average wait of 30 days, out of 678,000 children and young people seen by mental health services.