Under Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, the health and wellbeing of school pupils is the ‘Responsibility of All’.  Mental health is included in this though the extent to which secondary teachers feel confident to deal with the many and varied issues which their pupils present with is less clear.  This study seeks to explore the potential gap between the responsibilities that are assigned to Scottish secondary teachers and the responsibilities that they assume.

A recent survey of over 3000 school staff in Scotland found that the majority do not feel adequately equipped with the appropriate training in mental health to do their job properly (SAMH, 2018).  Teachers who had qualified in the last five years were amongst those who felt least well-trained in mental health (SAMH, 2018).  These findings are not surprising given they are echoed in studies in England, Australia (Shepherd et al., 2015; Graham et al., 2011; Askell-Williams & Lawson, 2013; Shelemy et al., 2019), Norway (Ekornes, 2015) and Canada (Whitley et al., 2012) with terms such as ‘unprepared’ (Ekornes, 2015) and ‘disempowered’ (Rothi et al., 2008) used in discussions.  Teachers generally feel that they lack the knowledge, confidence and skills (Shepherd et al., 2015; Graham et al., 2011; Shelemy et al., 2019; Anderson et al., 2018) to promote mental health as well as time, training and resources (Kidger et al., 2016; Whitley et al., 2012) while elsewhere attention is given to the impact of such duties on teachers’ own mental health and levels of stress (Ekornes, 2017).  As society grapples with the complexities of defining, preserving and promoting positive mental health, the cry for more training for teachers is easily made but the issue is more nuanced than this with the evolving role of the teacher at the heart of the matter. 

The 21^st century has undoubtedly seen a shift in how ‘mental health’ as a concept is understood.  The World Health Organisation defines it as  “a state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (WHO, 2013) demonstrating a move away from the ‘medical’ discourse in which mental health was equated with pathology towards a strength-based approach in which agency and resilience are key (Graham et al., 2011; Spratt et al., 2006).  Enhanced awareness that a young person’s early adverse experiences may play a significant role in his/her mental health and emotional development (Felitti et al., 1998) has also led to an appreciation of the influence of environmental factors.  While much has been made of the extent to which ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) can cause lasting damage to a child (Felitti et al., 1998), less attention has been given to precisely how ‘environmental factors’, and in particular relationships, also have the potential to positively effect change in a young person’s life and, to some degree, repair some of the hurt (NHS Health Scotland, 2017). 

It is therefore not difficult to see why schools are often considered key players in this new arena of discussion and intervention with traditional specialised mental health services no longer seen as solely responsible for addressing the issue (Fazel & Kohrt, 2019; Graham et al., 2011; Anderson et al., 2018; Shelemy et al., 2019).  Given the amount of time pupils spend at school and with their teachers, school could be considered the ideal place to focus on the identification of mental health issues, the prevention of future problems and the promotion of strategies which seek to preserve mental wellbeing. 

This study took place in October 2019 in a comprehensive secondary school in a town near a large Scottish city. The school takes pupils from ages 11 to 18 and has a roll of approximately 550. Although the catchment area of the school is socially and economically diverse, approximately 40% of pupils live in the most deprived areas of Scotland (SIMD 1-3) (Scottish Government, 2020). The town in which the study was conducted has child poverty exceeding 27% (NHS Health Scotland, 2019). Ethical approval was granted by the University of Glasgow College of Social Sciences ethics committee. Written consent for audio recording was obtained and ethical principles were carefully adhered to with regard to protecting participants’ anonymity. Questionnaire was issued electronically meaning that participants need not at any time disclose their identity. Emails were provided in order to facilitate volunteering to be interviewed or join the focus group. The sensitivity surrounding any research into mental health was carefully considered with researchers aware that discussions could trigger a variety of emotions. As such, no personal questions were asked, participants were reminded that they could withdraw at any time. The researchers accept the limitations of such a small-scale study and do not seek to generalise but rather to offer points of discussion to inform further research about how secondary teachers view and deal with the mental health of their pupils. Methods included the distribution of a questionnaire to all staff in the school and a total of 24 responses were received. The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions, 3 of which gathered quantitative data. The latter asked participants to use a 5-point scale to register their agreement or otherwise with specific statements. Six of the respondents volunteered to be interviewed and a further seven participated in a focus group, all of which were audio-recorded and transcribed. The interviews and focus group were semi-structured. Care was taken to ensure that interview questions were neither leading, biased nor overly-complex (Wood & Smith, 2016). Participants had teaching experience ranging from 1 year to over 40 years, some having extra responsibilities within departments or on a whole school basis. The exploratory nature of the study was suited to a predominantly qualitative approach and thematic analysis using Braun and Clarke’s data-driven strategy was employed to analyse the results (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

It has been illustrated that there are a range of opinions with regard to how schools and teachers should address pupils’ mental health. The factors which influence these views include perceived barriers like lack of training, fear of making mistakes, time and resources as well as definitions of mental health. Facilitators include personal and professional experience and, for many, a passionate desire to improve the experience and life chances of many of the children with whom they come into contact on a daily basis. With regard to perceptions of the role of the teacher, there were many who felt that pupils’ mental health was not something that they could fit into their role and that it was not appropriate that they should be expected to do so. Others argued fervently that without a consistent approach in which Responsibility of All was truly recognised, little progress could be made. We can see, then, how the concepts of given and felt responsibility and the complex relationship between the two is portrayed here. There cannot be one without the other if true and lasting change is to occur. While the Scottish Government publicises a Responsibility of All approach, this is not enough to ensure that responsibility, in particular for pupil mental health, is felt by all teachers (Education Scotland, 2014). Hence the barriers become greater than the facilitators and consistency of approach is denied. Messaging which includes altering perceptions of the role of the secondary teacher and accepting the need to maintain mental health as well as address issues when they arise is crucial if schools are to be able to meet the changing needs of their 21st century pupils.

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