Pastoral care in education today: its continuing role in promoting mental health in children and young people

ABSTRACT

There are many difficulties facing families in today’s world, including economic pressures, fallout from the pandemic, and enforced migration from war-torn countries. Mental health problems are known to have a disproportionately negative impact on the lives of children and young people and their families who are already vulnerable through such conditions as poverty or being a refugee, that put them at heightened risk of marginalisation and discrimination. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the complexity and scale of the problems. However, in this article, I argue that pastoral care systems in schools continue to play a significant role in alleviating the distress of children and young people, of building on their inner strengths of resilience, hope and creativity, and of connecting to the people, systems and resources around them. This article proposes two key recommendations for pastoral care in education – the need to create systems and interventions that reach out to families in the community and the need to enhance and strengthen peer relationships both within and beyond the school community.

KEYWORDS:

• Pastoral care
• mental health of children and young people
• emotional wellbeing in children and young people
• bullying/cyberbullying
• resilience
• creative arts and wellbeing

The challenge

The biggest challenge facing pastoral care in education today is, in my view, the perpetuation of inequalities in our educational system and the threat that this poses to the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people.

There are many ways of defining mental health. Some define it in terms of the absence of states, such as depression, anxiety, addiction. A more positive definition is provided by the UK Mental Health Foundatioon (2022) as ‘ … emotional and spiritual resilience which enables us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment and sadness. It is a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own and others’ worth.’ Such a definition takes account of the inevitable setbacks and losses that we all face in our daily lives but additionally focuses on our capacity to deal with negative experiences and such emotions as fear, sadness, and worry.

Foulkes (2020) takes the argument further when she proposes that too many perfectly understandable emotions are currently viewed in terms of mental illness when, in fact, they are part of the human condition. Based on extensive research evidence, she challenges the idea that today’s young people are amid a new epidemic of mental health. Instead, she argues, there is no clear boundary between the everyday and the pathological and suggests that symptoms exist along a continuum:

Along each spectrum, every psychological problem shifts gradually from being mild and controllable to something that can entirely take over your life. (Foulkes, 2020, p. 164)

Foulkes’ proposal supports the whole concept of pastoral care in education and the huge role that it plays in enhancing the social and emotional lives of children and young people. From this perspective, positive mental health is a dynamic state in which children and young people are given opportunities to develop their potential, have a sense of belonging in their community, and have ways of contributing to that community, while developing and expressing social and emotional competences in a supportive environment (Cefai et al., 2018; Cowie & Myers, 2018). This model is in harmony with the values of pastoral care in education with its commitment to enhancing the social and emotional climate within which children grow, learn and socialise, while at the same time it takes account of the negative conditions in which some children and young people live in today’s society.

International statistics confirm the close relationship between poverty and mental health difficulties (Co-SPACE, 2020; Cowie & Myers, 2021; Sadler et al., 2018; UNESCO, 2020; World Health Organisation [WHO], 2014). Mental health problems are known to have a disproportionately negative impact on the lives of children and young people and their families who are already disadvantaged through such conditions as poverty or being a refugee, that put them at heightened risk of marginalisation and discrimination. The stresses facing families with inadequate funds and reduced access to educational opportunities contribute directly to the mental health of their children. As Cobner et al. (2021) indicate, the treatment of individuals who are suffering mentally in these circumstances can only be part of the solution. Instead, the focus needs to be on psychosocial/ecological approaches that involve public policy, as well as services that facilitate a wider approach to a psychologically healthy society – one that fosters agency, security, connectedness, meaning and trust. Clearly, action needs to be taken at government level to ensure that children and young people get the protection they need from conditions of poverty and from such adverse experiences as domestic abuse within the family. But pastoral care in education is a key part of this process. The critical pastoral care role that schools already have in this domain was thrown into sharp relief during the COVID pandemic when mainstream schools were closed to the majority of children (with the exception of, for example, children of key workers; Dalton et al., 2020). Teachers and healthcare professionals reported sharp rises in emotional and behavioural difficulties among pupils on their return to school, especially in already disadvantaged children. Many had suffered the effects of isolation from their peers; some had experienced bereavement and grief; others found it hard to re-enter school after months of being at home.

But many schools demonstrated their role in strengthening the resilience of vulnerable children by providing protective interventions through whole school policies of pastoral care. They did this by developing enjoyable activities that enhance positive self-esteem and by creating an ethos that fosters sensitivity to emotions and enhances positive, caring peer and staff relationships. Additionally, commitment to investment in mental health services for youth at local and societal levels needs to be a priority, since resilience is not simply an individual trait that some children are lucky enough to be born with. Rather, it is a process involving many aspects of the child’s life, including the quality of relationships within the family and within the peer group, and the broader social context within which the child grows and learns.

This surely is where pastoral care in education plays a significant role. Two interrelated aspects form the focus of this article: supporting families in the community and supporting children and young people in school.

How do we meet these challenges through pastoral care in education?

Families in the community

Parents/caregivers play a crucial part in supporting their children in difficult times such as a pandemic but their capacity to provide emotional, educational and social support must interrelate with school and community. Where the family is living in circumstances of poverty or extreme anxiety about employment, there is greater likelihood of adverse outcomes for the children. Poor quality living conditions, lack of good nutrition, lack of space for study, less access to resources like books and the internet, cumulatively place great challenges on the families. The potential for families to be resilient should not be underestimated, but they need help in surmounting the difficulties that they face. That is why it is so important to create opportunities for children and young people to develop competencies to deal with the social and emotional difficulties that they are facing during times of crisis (Cefai et al., 2018; Ungar, 2019). Protective factors include good relationships within the family, opportunities for the child to develop a sense of mastery, whether in sport, the arts, academic skills and experiences that foster self-esteem; also access to education, healthcare facilities, wider support networks, community facilities.

Some initiatives have already proved to be successful. For example, THRIVE (2022) is a collaboration of local parents, schools, community groups and voluntary organisations to enhance the wellbeing and resilience of children and young people. The aim is for the children and their parents to have:

• Pride, self-confidence, and hope for the future

• Strong mental health

• Success at school and pathways into further education, training and employment

• Sense of belonging to a community

• Equality of access to services in the community

• Access to wider opportunities to contribute to and benefit from a successful economy

• Positive community role models to inspire them to become future community leaders.

Grounded in neuroscience models and attachment theory, THRIVE helps adults who are in close contact with children and young people to respond appropriately and with sensitivity to their distressed behaviour when it occurs. The philosophy that underpins THRIVE is the idea that we can help children and young people make sense of their experiences, however distressing, through the formation of trusting relationships with understanding adults (Webb & Dunne, 2021). This is a huge protective factor in the development of children’s curiosity, confidence, belief in themselves, their creativity and competence to learn.

Similarly, the Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools (WAMHS) (2022) initiative aims to improve the mental health support for children and young people by building their academic, social and emotional resilience and coping skills and also enabling access to additional psychological and social support should they need it. WAMHS enhances the knowledge and skills in educators so that they become more confident in their ability to support their students emotionally. It also provides services for families who may be experiencing mental health difficulties. Amongst other things, this holistic approach to mental health provides workshops for students and their parents to help reduce stigma and heighten awareness of the nature of emotional health and well-being and how to sustain it.

Peer relationships within and beyond the school community

A major challenge to children’s well-being remains the experience of bullying, whether face-to-face or online. Schools play a key role in supporting bullied children and in promoting values that include vulnerable children in the peer group rather than exclude them. Through pastoral care systems, schools can create opportunities for children and young people to take positive action themselves against bullying when they encounter it, whether as targets or as bystanders/witnesses, so creating opportunities for challenging the moral disengagement that discourages young people from upstanding against bullying rather than bystanding (Cowie, 2020). The importance of connectedness in schools as a means for promoting emotional well-being is widely documented. With the help of supportive networks, children and young people are more likely to develop positive beliefs in themselves and feelings of competence and optimism (McBeath et al., 2018; McLoughlin et al., 2018).

Pastoral care systems in schools underpin provision of support for bullied children and in promotion of values that include such vulnerable children in the peer group rather than excluding them. For those with existing mental health difficulties, YoungMinds (2020) research demonstrated the need for young people to have knowledge about where to go for help, including digital, virtual, text-based and telephone therapies for young people. The YoungMinds (2020) and Girlguiding (2020) surveys also highlighted the positive suggestions from the young people themselves about what would help them most with their mental health which included access to the arts, to sports and other open-air activities, confirming the critical importance of listening to the voice of the child and to the solutions that they propose. The potential for children and young people to demonstrate care and concern for vulnerable peers should not be underestimated.

Conclusion

Now more than ever, pastoral care systems in schools play a key role in the social and emotional development of children and young people, but especially for those who are vulnerable in some way. A holistic whole-school approach has been shown to be the most effective way forward (Cefai et al., 2018). Where researchers, policymakers and educators collaborate, (as in the THRIVE initiative described above) there is the greatest hope for providing protection to children and young people from the negative impact of adverse conditions. It is even better when schools reach out through their pastoral care systems to community networks, neighbourhood projects, influential figures and organisations in the arts, sports, conservation and access to nature and open spaces (as the WAMHS initiative demonstrates). It is also critical for schools through their pastoral care systems to combat the stigma of mental illness and facilitate access to relevant agencies (UNICEF, 2021).

During the pandemic, surveys such as Girl Guiding (2020) and YoungMinds (2020) elicited valuable constructive recommendations by young people themselves about interventions that enhance well-being by highlighting the need for physical activity and access to sports and the creative arts. Other studies confirmed the value of green spaces for children’s mental health (Sobko & Brown, 2021). Educators must continue to oppose short-term, misguided financial cuts that threaten the provision of such valuable services and actively disseminate the overwhelming evidence about the value of pastoral care policies and practices that enable families and schools to create the best and most nurturing environment possible.

Schools play a pivotal role in providing pastoral care in all its forms for children and young people. Pastoral care in education has the potential to enhance children’s opportunity to be connected and to develop their resources of strength, whether within themselves, or in the people and systems around them. Without the school as an institution of support for the vulnerable in society, there will be long-term problems for children and young people.

In sum, the way forward for pastoral care in education involves the following:

1. Emphasis on creating environments that are conducive to positive mental health in children and young people

2. Acknowledgement of the key role of parents/caregivers

3. Support for vulnerable families in the community

4. Systematic application of interventions that have been shown to reduce and prevent bullying

5. Regular evaluation of the risk and protective factors in the school and its environment, with sensitivity to the existence of inequalities in society.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).