Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of mental health training for (a) schoolteachers and (b) lecturers in (i) universities and (ii) colleges.

The government is progressing well on its commitment to offer quality assured training to help develop all state-funded schools and colleges’ approaches to mental health and wellbeing in England by 2025. The department has invested over £9.5 million during the financial year 2021-22.

As of 14 January 2022, over 8,000 eligible schools and colleges have applied for a senior mental health lead training grant. On 8 February 2022, the government announced that an additional £3 million has been provided to extend access to training, enabling eligible parties to access training before the end of May. Information on this can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/improvements-seen-in-children-and-young-peoples-wellbeing.

The government provides practical ways to support schools in teaching about mental health and wellbeing through training modules. Details on the training modules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing. Additionally, the department’s Leading Behaviour and Culture national professional qualification supports teachers to improve the wellbeing, motivation, and behaviour of pupils in the classroom.

Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from the government. The government supports various organisations calling for universities and colleges to adopt mental health as a priority, such as Universities UK’s Stepchange and the University Mental Health Charter.