Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training is provided to teachers on (a) psychological and (b) trauma issues raised by young people with challenging behaviour.

It is up to schools to decide what training their staff need in order to provide the right support to pupils. According to the Government’s ‘Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges survey’, 90% of schools offered staff training on supporting pupils' mental health and wellbeing (47% all staff, 43% at least some staff) and 49% had a dedicated lead for mental health. The survey can be viewed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664855/Transforming_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_provision.pdf.

The green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’, which is also attached, sets out proposals to improve support for schools to identify those pupils who need mental health support, backed with over £300 million of funding. As part of this, the Government will incentivise schools to put in place Designated Senior Leads (DSLs) for mental health, and will provide training on how to promote and support good mental health and wellbeing. DSLs will be supported by new, clinically supervised Mental Health Support Teams based in or near schools, which will provide support for those with mild to moderate needs, as well as better links to specialist NHS services for those who need them. The green paper can be found here: https://
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision-a-green-paper.