E L MICROSIMBIONTE Rhizobium tropici CIAT899

Katie, Anne and James spoke to their conflicting experiences of identifying and supporting pupil mental health needs in schools, and within education as a whole. Within this commonality, each of the three pastoral leads seemed to experience different challenges. Anne experienced conflict in relation to what information can, and cannot be shared within the school context. Anne’s perception of the school culture inhibited her sharing information regarding pupils’ mental health:

I think we do have a culture of perhaps where we sit in the staff room and discuss things, and… [...] I didn’t… some of those things don’t need to be discussed, it doesn’t, apart from knowing that the child is, struggling at some point… (Anne, lines 1429-1440)

Anne’s experience of feeling restricted in what she is able to share is further exacerbated in school by her interactions with the adults involved personally and professionally with the pupils. In the following extract, Anne seems to demonstrate an awareness of the protective factors school provides:

...parents are very clear sometimes, and social workers, this is not to be, this is not in the public domain in school. [...] Because students, as I say, do feel very… (intake of breath) This is normality to them, when they come to school. (Anne, lines 1387-1398)

It seems that although Anne is aware of the “normality” provided by school, her sharp intake of breath following a reiteration of the demands placed upon her suggest some level of divergence. Anne seemed conflicted in her desire to support the student within school and adhere to the requests made:

...it’s also very difficult, when you see those children in school, and you, you know what’s going on at home. [...] I don’t make a thing of it in school, you

know, I walk past them in the corridor, like I do every other child, but really, I want to be saying, “Are you okay?...” (Anne, lines 1514-1527)

The experience of feeling conflicted in whether or not to share information is also experienced by James. However, this was to be an experience that occurred in the context of working with other schools:

I’ll try not to be political, but [...] I think, we’ve, in education, we, a, a few years back we very much had a, a good collegiate approach. Schools would help each other. [...] Er, it wasn’t seen, as a bad thing to say, this, to be in a meeting, to say, “Actually this is happening with us, we’re not quite sure what we’re doing, can you get some help?” (James, lines 2432-2448)

For James, changes in the political climate of education have resulted in greater competition between schools, which makes him reluctant to share the difficulties he

experiences in relation to supporting pupil mental health needs. In Katie’s experience, teachers vary in their levels of willingness to engage in supporting pupil’s mental health needs. Katie appeared to perceive that newly qualified teachers have a greater awareness of mental health issues:

But most, to be honest, most teachers now, you know, coming out, the young teachers that are coming out of the teacher training, they’ve already had a lot of, well I don’t know how much input, but they are aware of mental health issues and they’ve already had the training. (Katie lines, 1432-1440)

But Katie appeared to experience conflicting attitudes amongst more established teachers:

It, it varies from, from person to person. We’ve got some people who, you know (pause) they’re there to teach and that’s what’s important. And you’ve got other kind of more pastoral teachers (pause) that, they are all given the same training, but there’s some, you know, some staff are just well known for (pause) not being (pause)(laughs). (Katie, lines 1389-1400)

There does not seem to be a middle ground in Katie’s account between those whose sole focus is on teaching and those who may be more willing to offer pastoral support. James echoed Katie’s experience of variable willingness amongst teaching staff to engage with pupil mental health needs:

I think also, the students know, have an idea of who they can talk to. [...] About these things, about who they will become more, who they’ll get a more sympathetic hearing from, etc. (James, lines 1747-1756)

In James’ experience, it seems that pupils are aware of this variation and it influences their help-seeking behaviour. James, Susan and Katie spoke to the experience of attempting to address the stigma around mental health:

I think (pause) we as a school along with other schools have worked incredibly hard at de-stigmatizing mental health and erm talking about it… (Susan, lines 1056-1061)

In spite of this, conflicting views around mental health appear to continue to be present in education and permeate different levels of the school:

...and it has sometimes (laughs) caused some, erm, interesting discussions in leadership team meetings about the different people’s views (laughs). (James, lines 1835-1840)

...you get that people sometimes have that roll of the eyes and, when they see them on the cover board and, “Oh, he’s off for stress” [...] I think, and, and I’m sure the children pick up on that. (James, lines 2014-2023)

In James’ experience, these conflicting views are openly expressed by staff members, and much to his surprise, between pupils:

...we were talking about a politician [...] saying how he’d experienced mental health issues and what he had felt like and, and things. One of the kids said, “What’s he talking about that on television for? No one wants to know about that. They’re not going to trust him anymore, are they?”, And I just thought, “Ohh”. (James, lines 1658-1671)

In spite of the pastoral leads’ efforts to destigmatise mental health in education, they appear to experience conflicting views across the different levels ranging from pupils to senior leadership.