Whilst this IR was not as commonly used by the participants to co-construct SEMH needs, it emerged at times to facilitate explanations of why some college students presented with certain SEMH needs. In the extract below, Cleo explains why some students find it difficult to recognise how social media can create unrealistic expectations for students from different backgrounds:
Extract 37
149.2 149.3
Cleo \ But that's not necessarily the case but I don't think that they're.. at this age they’re able to grasp...
In this extract, college age students are seen to be still developing, and at a stage in their development where a more informed understanding of SEMH needs is out of their reach. This distances the college staff away from ‘developing’ students, and positions them as having responsibility to support the students’ understanding of SEMH needs. However, the use of the word “grasp” suggests that college students are approaching an age where their capacity to understand these concepts will develop.
In the extract below, individual differences amongst students are used to explain students’ SEMH needs:
Extract 38 1025.0 1025.1 1025.2 1025.3 1025.4 Sara Sara
\ It's not something that's gonna be a given [1] all of your life I mean some people are lucky enough.. for that to happen but other people have to work on being mentally /
[ \ healthy [breathe in] /
1026.0 Lenny Mmm
1027.0 Pp Mmm ]
Sara’s use of the word “lucky” (line 1025.1) suggests that being mentally healthy is an innate disposition for some people. The word “people”, rather than ‘students’ (lines 1025.1 and 1025.2), infers that SEMH needs continue beyond adolescence and further suggests that problems can be encountered if individuals do not take control of their own mental health at an earlier stage in life. The notion that people need to work on their own mental health (lines 1025.1 – 1025.2), suggests that ‘problems’ or
‘needs’ originate from within the person and largely biologically caused, rather than occurring through interactions with other people, or with the environment around them.
Developmental causes linked to gender and SEMH needs were raised in the group discussion. Below, Lenny attempts to establish this link:
Extract 39
1165.0 1165.1
Lenny [click] ah d yesterday I did s.. there might be a gender thing here as well
Lenny presents as unsure here as to whether there are differences between the genders, and presentation of SEMH needs. This suggests that there may be wider societal discourses relating to gender and mental health that Lenny may have been influenced by. The discussion below demonstrates variation in responses to this link between gender and SEMH needs:
Extract 40 1169.0 1169.1 1169.2 1169.3 1169.4 1169.5 1169.6 Lenny Lenny Sara Lenny \ Whereas the / [ \ boys / [sniff] ]
really didn’t… didn't know… [laughs] … what to think.. about how they would be in in ten years’ time
1170.0 1171.0 1171.1 1171.2 1171.3 1171.4 1171.5 1171.6 Sara Sara Lenny Pp Sara
Do you think that's because / [ \ they might /
[sniff] [inaudible] ]
think it was embarrassing to say 1172.0
1172.1 1172.3
Abigail Abigail
They wouldn't like to say I /
[ \ want to be married with three kids
1173.0 Lenny I mean I I… yeah I me /
1174.0 Sara [inaudible] Yeah ]
It appears that Lenny is suggesting that college age boys may be less likely to demonstrate decisiveness of future aspirations, than girls are. By doing so, he is suggesting that there is a possible link between having future aspirations and SEMH needs. Sara offers the alternative possibility that boys may be embarrassed to answer (line 1171.6), rather than boys demonstrating a difference in their SEMH needs when compared to girls. Equally, the interjections and overlaps between lines 1171.2 and 1174.0 further suggest that there was debate and disagreement
amongst the group, with regards to Lenny’s identified link between gender, decisiveness, and future aspirations. These discursive strategies functioned to suppress the discourse that traits of decisiveness and future aspirations are factors in determining the link between SEMH and gender. Throughout the group discussion however, there were implicit references made to gender and SEMH needs. One
particular example can be found in Extract 17 where a female student’s experience was used to illustrate SEMH needs. In comparison to this, the extract below offers an example as to how a primary school aged boy with SEMH needs may be
perceived:
Extract 41
1140.7 1140.8
Lenny \ you know look at that naughty boy you don't want to
behave like them… you don't seem to get… 1141.0 Beatrice The nurturing there
1142.0 Lenny like really intense psychological [1] help at that point
1143.0 Pp Hmmm 1144.0 1144.1 1144.2 1144.3 1144.4 1144.5 1144.6 1144.7 1144.8 Lenny Lenny Pp Lenny
That's how I think the resource should be [1] or there should be more resource *because they come here they’re formed essentially* an we can do [1] /
[ \ some Mmm ]
\ bits and pieces but [1] they’ve had sixteen years of whatever it is that’s been forming them
1145.0 1145.1
Beatrice Yeah but that’s that's not a reason not to change 1146.0 Lenny [ *Oh no it’s not it’s not* m
1147.0 1147.1 1147.2
Beatrice Beatrice
At *sixteen years* you’re still errr… / ] everything is possible 1148.0 1148.1 1148.2 Lenny Lenny You can / [ \ try but I 1149.0 1149.1 1149.2 1149.3 1149.4 Beatrice Beatrice Beatrice I believe in… / ] change / [ \ I believe in 1150.0 1150.1 1150.2 Lenny Sara [laughs] [laughs] ] 1151.0 1151.1
Beatrice Uh [1] *i can’t* give up on anybody at sixteen come on [1] *at any age* /
1152.0 Beatrice [ \ Actually [2] nerrr
In line 1140.7, Lenny quotes a primary school staff member to demonstrate how a boy may be labelled as “naughty”, rather than exploring and supporting the causes of the behaviours. This extract firstly demonstrates how boys may be perceived differently to girls in their behavioural presentations, suggesting that boys may be seen to present with more ‘obvious’ behavioural difficulties than girls. Secondly, it also demonstrates the variation between SEMH needs becoming “formed” at college age due to lack of support from childhood experiences (line 1144.1), or SEMH needs being fluid over time, regardless of childhood experiences (line 1145.0). By putting forward the argument that SEMH needs become “formed” by college age (line 1144.1), shifts blame away from the college setting, and places responsibility of unsupported SEMH needs on the primary school setting. Subsequently, it positions the college staff as disempowered if they are then faced with managing unmet SEMH needs at college age. This is in contrast to Beatrice’s argument that her role within the college involves maintaining hope (line 1151.0) as students continue to develop their SEMH needs (line 1145.0). This variation was followed, however, by a shift in agreement towards the discourse of SEMH needs being ‘fixed’:
Extract 42
1155.0 1155.1
Beatrice [laughs] However [1] y yeah you you do have a problem if people have er… patterns
1156.0 Lenny Yeah
1157.0 1157.1
Beatrice that have been er h hindering their behaviour for such a long time for sure
Beatrice’s emphasis on “however” (line 1155.0) demonstrates some exceptions that lean towards a discourse of SEMH needs becoming fixed as adolescent development progresses. The shifts in this argument suggest that SEMH can become ‘problematic’
if early recognition and intervention are not facilitated. Equally, the use of “people” (line 1155.1) is indicative that SEMH needs can occur throughout life, and as a consequence, responsibility is distanced from the college setting specifically to manage SEMH needs.