Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of Roots of Empathy classroom practices as a means of promoting social and emotional learning.

The Government has made no specific assessment of the Roots of Empathy programme. It is important that schools have the freedom to decide which programmes are most appropriate and best meet the needs of their pupils, drawing on an evidence base of effective practice.

Good mental health and wellbeing, including the social and emotional development of children and young people, are a priority for the Government. The Department is committed through its education reforms to ensuring that all children, regardless of background, are prepared to succeed in adult life. Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils, through ensuring a supportive school ethos which fosters a strong sense of community, and enables engagement and success by all.

The Department is making relationships education compulsory for all primary pupils, relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory for all secondary pupils and health education compulsory for all pupils in primary and secondary state-funded schools. The subjects are designed to foster positive, respectful relationships. In health education, there is a strong focus on mental wellbeing. The Department is putting in place a programme of support for schools as they introduce the new subjects, and this will include helping schools to identify evidence-based programmes and high quality teaching resources.