Teacher training pilot to tackle primary school student mental health
Primary school teachers will be trained to identify mental health issues in children as the government works to tackle the problem leaving parents and staff “quite concerned”. SEE THE LIST OF SCHOOLS TAKING PART
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Primary school teachers will be trained to identify mental health issues in children and refer them to professionals.
Ten primary schools will take part in a Victorian Government pilot where senior staff will be taught to recognise struggling students and link them to help.
They will then work with classroom teachers to educate them on better understanding behavioural issues.
STUDENTS MISSING SCHOOL OVER MENTAL ILLNESS
The $1.2 million program, in partnership with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and Ian Potter Foundation, will run in northern metropolitan and Bendigo region state schools from term 1 next year.
“The goal is to identify when students start to struggle and intervene then so the problem doesn’t become entrenched,” said Prof Frank Oberklaid, from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Teachers will be trained to recognise student wellbeing by categories, from ‘healthy’ to ‘coping’ then ‘struggling’ and ‘unwell’.
It comes as a further 57 high schools will recruit mental health workers from next year in a statewide rollout to reach every secondary campus by 2022.
Prof Oberklaid said professionals were currently treating young children with more complex mental illnesses.
“If you talk to teachers, they are quite concerned about mental health problems,” he said.
“Ten years ago, they were worried about aggressive behaviour … these days they’re talking about anxiety and depression.
“We don’t know (why), we think social media has something to do with it.”
KIDS UNDER FIVE SEEKING MENTAL HELP
SCHOOLS AT FRONTLINE OF MENTAL CRISIS
Prof Oberklaid believed the pilot program had “national implications” with schools the “ideal platform” for a stronger mental health focus.
The MCRI has developed and will run the teacher training pilot while the Ian Potter Foundation has contributed $500,000.
Education minister James Merlino said student mental health was “one of the biggest concerns raised with me by both parents and teachers”.
He said the pilot was “a first step in looking at what more we can do in our primary schools to address this issue”.
SCHOOLS IN THE PILOT
Montmorency South Primary
Eltham Primary
Eltham East Primary
Eltham North Primary
Thomastown West Primary
Kangaroo Flat Primary
Lockwood Primary
Specimen Hill Primary
Golden Square Primary
Chewton Primary