Do our schools need psychologists?
by Professor Luke O’Neill
Do our schools need psychologists?
I am a big fan of Lucy Kellaway. For many years she was a journalist in the Financial Times but in 2016 she announced that she was leaving to become a Maths teacher. She then moved on to teaching business studies and recently said “I’m not remotely repentant about what I’ve done. I have not been bored for one second. I am so interested in what I am doing that I have become a bore to my old friends”.
She has also co-founded a charity called ‘Now Teach’ which helps people to change career and bring their experience into the classroom. She’s been very keen on encouraging professionals of all kinds, and particularly people in the City of London to give up their jobs and become teachers, bringing their life experience to the job. She has written a memoir about her decision to go into teaching at the age of 57, called ‘Re-educated’.
There are some great quotes, including when she writes about her new life:
“Even though it is far more tiring than my old one, it doesn’t stress me out in quite the same way. I think this is because it’s not actually about me. It’s about the students”
Or, when she reflects over the events of a particularly stressful day:
“I did some bad things and some good things. And that, it seems to me, is good enough”
But the main reason I write about her is an article she recently wrote for her old employer, the Financial Times, about anxiety in secondary school students. She wrote about how the teenagers she has been teaching are the most unhappy group of students she has had to deal with. Just like in Ireland they spent months learning at home online. They also had to contend with the stress of lockdown, unable to meet their friends or take part in key rites of passage, so important for their mental health.
She quotes Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, who told her that the number of young people with a probable mental health disorder had risen from one in nine before the pandemic to one in six. The number of children being treated for a mental health disorder is a record 420,000. She reports other startling statistics, with the Coalition for Youth Mental Health in Schools reporting a quarter of young women in England having a mental health disorder and a third of girls aged 16-18 having self- harmed.
The situation is likely to be very similar in Ireland, as I’m sure many school leaders are experiencing. A survey carried out in December 2021 in Ireland (https://publichealth.ie/blog-impact-of-covid-19-on-the- mental-health-of-people-living-on-the-island-of-ireland) revealed that 45% of 15-24 year olds described their mental health as ‘bad’. Those with a probable mental health problem rose form 10% in 2016 to 15% in 2020/21.
27% of young women reported a probable mental health problem. In Aug 2021 the Irish Times reported how COVID19 had been a ‘perfect storm’ for eating disorders among teenagers, with a sharp rise in cases. There was a 61 per cent increase in admissions to psychiatric units for children and adolescents between 2019 and last year.
Lucy writes that the most obvious indicator that teenagers are in trouble is that they are absent from school. She says that there has been no sign of this letting up, even though the lockdown ended over a year ago. Her school has made a big effort, phoning students and even sending a minibus around to get them out of bed and bring them to school. Absenteeism however remains a problem. She quotes one of her students who, when asked about her poor attendance, said: “Why should we come to school when during lockdown we taught ourselves, which Lucy says is not unreasonable”.
What can be done about all this? Lucy writes that most teachers are poorly equipped to deal with distress on this scale. Principals and Deputy
Principals are likely to be as ill equipped. Her instincts tell her to plough on with lessons regardless. Schools are wondering what to do – whether to be ‘hard or soft’ on students. But the experts she talks to say it’s difficult to know what to do. More pressure on students might exacerbate the problem. She discusses how anxiety, low mood and unhappiness are not illnesses.
Students need to be given coping skills. Students who are unwell need professional help with counsellors. She writes that teachers shouldn’t try to ‘play the shrink’ however. But one expert, when asked if teachers should go soft on students or ignore the issue, says that “teachers have been thrown to the dogs. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. I would think the situation is even more stressful for school leaders who after all have to carry the can when it comes to students but also when it comes to looking out for stressed teachers who carry this extra burden.
I think that Lucy’s article is very important for Principals and Deputy Principals everywhere. I also know that this is recognized as a very important area, since before the pandemic. I add my voice to highlighting its importance. School leaders, teachers and students all need support in these post-pandemic times. Are the current psychological services sufficient? Do schools need psychologists on the staff to help? Career guidance counsellors can help of course but what’s happening to students goes way beyond career guidance. Are these extra stressors a reason for why it’s difficult to fill the post of Principal and Deputy Principal, or another reason for early retirement?
These are important questions for the Department of Education to consider, to ensure that the necessary support for Principals, Deputy Principals, teachers and students are put in place in these still challenging post- pandemic times.
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Thanks for the feedback! That’s an interesting point. I suppose there are many reasons, internal and external, why we do not accomplish all that we might. Regardless, I am thankful for the Lord’s grace in that. Thanks again!
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