Supporting pupils in school with social, emotional and mental health needs: a scoping review of the literature

ABSTRACT

This article reports on a scoping review of the academic and related literature published between 2000 and 2015 that addressed the education provision for secondary aged pupils with social, emotional and/or mental health difficulties (SEMH) conducted over a six week period in 2015. A total of 168 documents met the inclusion criteria for the review, including 110 peer reviewed journal articles. The authors found an emerging evidence base to support more effective provision for pupils with SEMH, but there remains, particularly at the group and individual level a dearth of literature. Underpinning all the successful programmes in this review was a positive approach adopted by teachers and school leaders to pupils with SEMH. There was an overlap in practice between approaches used at universal, group and individual level but the majority of effective approaches were common to mainstream and specialist settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Social
• emotional
• mental health
• adolescent
• provision
• review

Acknowledgments

This review was commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) as part of a wider project addressing provision for pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. World Health Organisation (2014). ‘Health for the World’s Adolescents.’ http://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-decade/.

2. The National Behaviour Support Service http://www.nbss.ie/model-of-support.

3. National Center on the Universal Design for Learning: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl.

4. Achievement for All: http://www.afa3as.org.uk/achievement-for-all/achievement-for-all-3as.

5. Restorative Justice 4 Schools: http://www.restorativejustice4schools.co.uk/wp/?page_id=45.

6. Good Behaviour Game: http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioural-interventions/schoolwide-classroommgmt/good-behaviour-game.

7. ‘Why Try?’ programme: http://www.whytry.org/index.php/component/content/article/79-resource-center/108-research-by-setting.

8. Friends for Life Youth: http://www.friendsforlife.org.nz/evidence-based/.

9. Attachment Aware Schools: http://attachmentawareschools.com/ .

10. Emotion coaching: http://attachmentawareschools.com/emotion_coaching.php.

11. Emotion coaching case study: http://attachmentawareschools.com/resources/documents/EC_in_practice_Secondary_School_case_study.pdf.

12. Repeated Reading: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/interventionreport.aspx?sid=576.

13. EEEF Small group tuition: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/toolkit-a-z/small-group-tuition/.

14. The Global Youth Wellbeing Index (2014). http://www.youthindex.org/full-report/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine Carroll

Dr Catherine Carroll (UCL Institute of Education) lectures and undertakes research in inclusive education.

Jane Hurry

Prof Jane Hurry (UCL Institute of Education) teaches and researches in adolescent mental health and its relationships with education.