Studying at York
Current Thinking in Mental Health & Wellbeing in Schools - EDU00103M
Module summary
This module will advance your critical understanding of psychological and neurobiological determinants of mental health and wellbeing in children and adolescents in relation to educational policy from an applied perspective. The module will mostly consist of guest lectures delivered by mental health practitioners and educational professionals presenting their perspectives and experience of developing, delivering and evaluating mental health and wellbeing interventions in schools.
Professional requirements
none
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Spring Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
This module aims to advance your critical understanding of developmental psychological and neurobiological determinants of mental health and wellbeing in children and adolescents in relation to educational policy from an applied perspective. The module will expand your critical knowledge and analytical skills by engaging with targeted specific topics in mental health and wellbeing via guest lectures delivered by mental health practitioners and educational professionals. You will gain critical insights into the complexities, often including inter-agency collaborations, and practical challenges in formulating, delivering and evaluating mental health and wellbeing strategies and provisions in schools. In addition, you will acquire a range of transferable skills in assimilating information from different sources and developing your own perspective on it, formulating reasoned arguments, analysing and synthesising research evidence and policy information from different sources, and developing effective communication, literature search and digital literacy skills.
Module learning outcomes
At the end of this module:
1. You will have expanded the scope of your critical review of the evidence base on mental health and wellbeing in schools.
2. You will develop in in-depth knowledge of relevant policy applied in educational practice in relation to research on mental health and wellbeing.
3. You will confidently, critically and effectively communicate the complexities of policy, practice and research to a range of audiences.
4. You will be able to further build on practical examples of mental health and wellbeing policy and interventions in schools in formulating innovative strategies and interventions in education.
5. You will have gained advanced background knowledge on policy, research and practice needed for effective engaging in complex collaborative work with researchers, policy makers and teachers in schools.
Module content
The following provides an indicative list of session content for the module:
Week 2 - Risks and protective factors of mental health and wellbeing in early childhood
Week 3 - Early interventions targeting mental health and wellbeing in schools - Research, policy and implementation issues
Week 4 - Parenting interventions in early years
Week 5 - School readiness from a mental health and wellbeing perspective - Integrating research, policy and practice
Week 6 - Assessing mental health and wellbeing in schools
Week 7 - Clinical psychologist perspectives on mental health and wellbeing childhood
Week 8 - Mental health and wellbeing during transition from primary to secondary schools
Week 9 - Risk behaviours and mental health and wellbeing interventions in secondary schools
Week 10 - Mental health and wellbeing during transition from secondary schools into employment and in sixth form.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 70 |
| Essay/coursework | 30 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 70 |
| Essay/coursework | 30 |
Module feedback
Written feedback on assignment report sheet and face-to-face feedback in supervisions. The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
Indicative reading
Weare, K. (2015). What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools. London: National Children’s Bureau.
Cook, C. R., Frye, M., Slemrod, T., Lyon, A. R., Renshaw, T. L., & Zhang, Y. (2015). An integrated approach to universal prevention: Independent and combined effects of PBIS and SEL on youths’ mental health. School Psychology Quarterly, 30(2), 166.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.