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MSc Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education

Put mental health and wellbeing at the heart of education

Year of entry: 2025 (September)

Length

1 year full-time

Start date

September 2025 (semester dates)

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Learn how to transform policy and practice in mental health and wellbeing in education.

Taught by researchers actively contributing to the areas you'll study, this course is designed to give you an in-depth understanding of the psychology and neuroscience of mental health and wellbeing in the context of education. 

By the time you finish, you'll be ready to take on transformative consultancy and advocacy roles in mental health and wellbeing in education.

Course content

You'll develop a solid understanding of key principles in psychology and neuroscience underlying mental health and wellbeing, and study the latest research on these topics in both areas. You'll also consult relevant educational policy and explore applied approaches to improving mental health and wellbeing in schools. 

Throughout the course, you'll work on your research skills through the critical analysis of the latest evidence in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health and wellbeing and development of your own research evaluation proposals of wellbeing programmes and provisions.

In the Spring term you'll choose an option module, giving you the opportunity to explore a topic that really interests you. 

Modules

Core Modules

Option Modules

You will also study three option modules, One of your choices should be focused on mental health:

The options available to you will be confirmed after you begin your course. For further information please get in touch.

Our modules may change to reflect the latest academic thinking and expertise of our staff, and in line with Department/School academic planning.

Dissertation

In the Summer Term and summer vacation you'll focus on an independent research project, leading to a 12,000-word dissertation.

You'll identify a research question in the context of mental health and wellbeing in education, and construct an empirical investigation to address it. 

This is your chance to put the knowledge you've gained to work and explore a topic that you feel really passionate about. 

The York approach

Every course at York is built on a distinctive set of learning outcomes. These will give you a clear understanding of what you will be able to accomplish at the end of the course and help you explain what you can offer employers. Our academics identify the knowledge, skills, and experiences you'll need upon graduation and then design the course to get you there.

Students who complete this course will be able to:

  • critically evaluate cutting-edge psychological and neuroscientific research on mental health and wellbeing in education by drawing on in-depth knowledge of key theoretical and experimental perspectives in this area.
  • critically review relevant educational mental health and wellbeing policy and practice in the light of psychological and neuroscientific research.
  • effectively communicate, to a range of audiences, mental health research applied to particular mental health or wellbeing issues in education.
  • formulate and evaluate innovative evidence-based mental health and wellbeing strategies and provisions at school, local authority, government or non-government organization levels with evaluation involving ethically appropriate data collection, analysis, and reflective practice.
  • propose improvements in policy and practice based on their independently and effectively designed and conducted research evaluations (including research ethics, data collection, analysis, and write up of findings) of mental health and wellbeing strategies, provision and interventions in education.
  • work effectively in collaboration with academics, mental health providers and policy makers to make transformative improvements to mental health and wellbeing policy and practice in education.

Fees and funding

Annual tuition fees for 2025/26

Study modeUK (home)International and EU
Full-time (1 year) £9,250£25,900

Students on a Student Visa are not currently permitted to study part-time at York.

Fees information

UK (home) or international fees? The level of fee that you will be asked to pay depends on whether you're classed as a UK (home) or international student. Check your fee status.

Find out more information about tuition fees and how to pay them.

Funding information

Discover your funding options to help with tuition fees and living costs.

We'll confirm more funding opportunities for students joining us in 2025/26 throughout the year.

If you've successfully completed an undergraduate degree at York you could be eligible for a 10% Masters fee discount.

Funding opportunities

Chevening Scholarships

We are pleased to work with Chevening Scholars to offer funding for our Masters programmes. Chevening Scholarships provide one year of fully-funded postgraduate study in the UK for international (including EU) students. The scholarships are open to early and mid-career professionals who have the potential to become future leaders.

Living costs

You can use our living costs guide to help plan your budget. It covers additional costs that are not included in your tuition fee such as expenses for accommodation and study materials.

Teaching and assessment

You’ll work with world‐leading academics who’ll challenge you to think independently and excel in all that you do. Our approach to teaching will provide you with the knowledge, opportunities, and support you need to grow and succeed in a global workplace.

Teaching format

You'll be taught through a combination of formal lectures, seminars, practical exercises and workshops.

You'll spend time working on your own, reading assigned texts and researching supporting materials, as well as working with others in seminars to discuss and present your work.

There will also be opportunities to attend talks from guest speakers on a wide variety of topics in education.

A member of teaching staff will act as your supervisor throughout the degree to help guide your studies and monitor your progress.

About our campus

Our beautiful green campus offers a student-friendly setting in which to live and study, within easy reach of the action in the city centre. It's easy to get around campus - everything is within walking or pedalling distance, or you can always use the fast and frequent bus service.

Assessment and feedback

We use a number of assessment types including: 

  • Research evaluation proposal
  • Case study
  • Provision proposal
  • Policy consultancy report
  • Poster Presentation
  • Essay
  • Dissertation

Throughout your course you'll complete assignments and exercises which don't count towards your final grade. The marks and feedback you receive for these will help you understand your strengths and identify areas for improvement.

A student from the Department of Education in a seminar.
Vanita Sundaram, an academic member of staff in the Department of Education, teaching undergraduate students

Careers and skills

 This course will provide you with a sought-after set of skills that meet a call for better mental health and wellbeing provisions for young people. By the time you graduate, you'll be ready to assess and positively transform health and wellbeing provisions in schools and other educational settings. Hands-on, practical exercises throughout will prepare you for a career in mental health and wellbeing policy analysis and improvement as well as development and evaluation of wellbeing strategies and programmes in education and related sectors.

Career opportunities

  • Youth worker
  • Education welfare officer
  • Widening participation officer in Higher Education
  • Education consultant
  • Mental health research
  • Policy officer

Transferable skills

  • Digital literacy
  • Research analysis, design and evaluation
  • Translating research into practice
  • Problem solving
  • Time management
  • Communicating to a wide range of audiences

Entry requirements

Typical offer
Undergraduate degree 2:2 in Psychology, Psychology in Education, Social Work, Child and Family studies or a relevant subject. You will need to demonstrate a sufficient understanding of undergraduate level psychology.
Other international qualifications Equivalent qualifications from your country

English language

If English isn't your first language you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. We accept the following qualifications:

Minimum requirement
IELTS (Academic and Indicator) 6.5, minimum 6.0 in each component
Cambridge CEFR B2 First: 176, with 169 in each component
Oxford ELLT 7, minimum of 6 in each component
Duolingo 120, minimum 105 in all other components
LanguageCert SELT B2 with 33/50 in each component
LanguageCert Academic 70 with a minimum of 65 in each component
Kaplan Test of English Language 459-494, with 426-458 in all other components
Skills for English B2: Merit overall, with Pass with Merit in each component
PTE Academic 61, minimum 55 in each component
TOEFL 87, minimum of 21 in each component
Trinity ISE III Merit in all requirements

For more information see our postgraduate English language requirements.

If you haven't met our English language requirements

You may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language courses. These courses will provide you with the level of English needed to meet the conditions of your offer.

The length of course you need to take depends on your current English language test scores and how much you need to improve to reach our English language requirements.

After you've accepted your offer to study at York, we'll confirm which pre-sessional course you should apply to via You@York.

Applying

You can apply and send all your documentation online. You don’t need to complete your application all at once: you can start it, save it and finish it later.

Apply for this course

Next steps

Contact us

Get in touch if you have any questions

Dr Jessie Shepherd

Learn more

Department of Education

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