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Working, Assessing and Engaging in Education Settings

Module description

Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) provide provide support and evidence-based interventions in schools and colleges. This is delivered within contexts made up of cultural attitudes, beliefs about mental health and what works, and a wider range of support systems and practices. The support and intervention offered is therefore part of a wider whole school and systems approach to promoting mental health and responding to identified needs. Successful contribution to this requires the EMHP to be fully cognisant of the educational system and mental health practice within schools and colleges, and the support available to them. This module consists of two main areas: the educational context and how it operates; and assessment and engagement of children, young people, and their families specific to supporting mental health within the educational setting. They have been designed as counterparts to modules 1 and 2. First, EMHPs will understand the education setting and the context in which they will be working, including legislative and policy frameworks, how schools / colleges are organised, and the challenges of working with mental health issues in an educational setting. EMHP will then learn assessment and engagement skills particular to educational settings. This includes engagement skills with Children and Young People, families and education staff, assessment, diagnosis and signposting skills and neurological development. It will also involve active exploration of the whole school approaches being used within local areas, and support to incorporate and develop these as part of the role and wider mental health support system.

EMHPs must learn to function effectively within the context of the whole school or college's approach to mental health, alongside the systems, policies and processes already in place within the education setting in relation to Equality Diversity and Inclusion. EMHPs should understand that their roles fit within a large and multi-professional network both within the educational setting, within the wider education system and context, and also within wider multi-professional teams within the healthcare context. They must therefore learn to perform their work as part of a wider mental health support system, including in relation to their knowledge and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion, for example using Equality, Diversity and Inclusion or mental health policies within the schools, pupil feedback processes, and data regarding protected characteristics or social determinants of health. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module you will develop your knowledge in the core principles underpinning Education Mental Health Practice in education settings and you will become skilled in enhancing your work with children, young people and their families/parents. This module underpins module PYCM083 (Common Problems and Processes in Education Settings) and PYCM084 (Interventions for Emerging Mental Health Difficulties in Education Settings). This module has several aims:

• To equip the EMHP with the necessary knowledge, attitude and competence to operate effectively in an inclusive value driven education context, and as part of a wider mental health support system.
• To possess the relevant knowledge and ability to assesses and engage mental health difficulties in the context of education environments in collaboration with CYP, their families and education staff.
• To be able to recognize and work with existing expertise in education settings.
• To understand how to support the development and use of whole school approaches that enable good mental health, assist in the early identification of need, and encourage the development of mentally healthy school environments and provision.
• To be able to assess and identify areas of difficulty (including risk) and establish main areas for change.
• To establish and maintain a working therapeutic alliance and engage the child/young person/family and education staff to support them in selfmanagement of recovery
• To identify and differentiate between common mental health problems in CYP
• To possess knowledge and awareness of learning problems in CYP: including dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia and their impact on mental health.
• To evidence an awareness of SEND and role of SENCO in education settings
• To be able to navigate and signpost to appropriate interventions
• To use Routine Outcome measures and standardised assessment tools effectively in education settings
• To be able to interface with the educational system in the context of homeschooling

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the Education context in terms of typical organizational structures, professional practice and boundaries specific to education settings; and the individual nature of schools and colleges and how the role of EMHPs can adapt to these variations in populations.
• 2. Become familiar with how EMHPs are part of a wider mental health support system, and the necessity for multiagency working
• 3. Be able to relate key roles in education settings (including Senior Mental Health Leads and SEND Coordinators) to the work of MHSTs in schools/colleges.
• 4. Understand professional practice and boundaries in education settings.
• 5. Be able to demonstrate knowledge of relevant initiatives and polices to mental health within schools, including polices related to diversity and inclusion.
• 6. Understand the areas typically included as part of a whole school framework for mental health; and how these support effective practice within a value driven context.
• 7. Be able to explain how whole school approaches and frameworks for mental health support the work of MHSTs, within the context of an interconnected mental health support system.
• 8. Be able to use whole school approaches and frameworks to inform the support and intervention offered to a setting.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Summarise basic and essential factual and conceptual knowledge of the subject, and demonstrate a critical understanding of this knowledgeSummarise basic and essential factual and conceptual knowledge of the subject, and demonstrate a critical understanding of this knowledge
• 10. Address systematically complex problems which may be framed within unpredictable contexts, think critically, creatively, and independently, and fully appreciate the complexities of the issues

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 11. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, challenge received opinion and develop your own criteria and judgement, and to seek and make use of feedback
• 12. Manage your own learning using the full range of resources of the clinical discipline and with minimum guidance

Syllabus plan

The module content, module-specific learning objectives, style of delivery and assessment for this module are as informed by the curriculum for the training of EMHPs to support the delivery of low intensity CBT and parent therapy. Teaching content will include:

• The organization of schools and colleges including introduction to roles and responsibilities of key individuals and relevant policies, procedures and ethos associated with school.
• Schools and colleges mission, aims and values and how these are maintained.
• Wider context in which schools/colleges operate (SATS, GCSEs on so forth).
• Specific issues working with CYP, families and staff within education settings.
• Understanding specific periods of stress in CYP’s educational journey including transitions between schools and tests and exams.
• Audit of mental health provisions and assessment of mental health need in education settings, as part of a whole school approach to promoting and responding to mental health need.
• Techniques for engaging of harder to reach students in education settings.
• Understanding of whole school/college approaches.
• Risk assessment, safeguarding and management of risk specific to education settings.
• Speech and language development and problems.
• Neurological development - Knowledge and awareness of how children and young people learn and learning problems: Knowledge and awareness of learning assessment for dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia.
• Knowledge and awareness of learning disabilities and also Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and their impact in educational settings.
• How to use measures, goal setting and goal-based outcomes in education settings.
• Be able to apply the knowledge and competence in relation to the education system in the context of home schooling.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Two summative assessments are required for this module. In all cases re-assessment will be the same as the original assessment. Where you have been referred/deferred for any form of assessment detailed above you will have the opportunity to retake within the period specified above from the date that feedback was provided.

If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of deferral, your re-assessment will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment and the overall module mark will not be capped.

If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), the overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

If you fail re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), you will be failed in the module and as a consequence you will be failed in the programme and your registration as a student of the University will be terminated.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core reading:

• Demkowicz, O., & Humphrey, N. (2017). Whole school approaches to mental health promotion: What does the evidence say? Evidence Based Practice Unit, Anna Freud Centre.
• Department of Education and Department of Health. (2017). Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: A green paper. Crown.
• Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, A. B., & Schellinger, K. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 474-501.
• Howard, C., Burton, M., Barrell, R., & Levermore, D. (2017). Children’s mental health and emotional well-being in primary schools: A whole school approach. Learning Matters.
• NICE. (2022). Social and emotional wellbeing in primary and secondary education, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Overview | Social, emotional and mental wellbeing in primary and secondary education | Guidance | NICE
• Public Health England. (2015). Promoting children and young people's emotional health and wellbeing: A whole school and college approach. Crown.
• Weare, K. (2013). Promoting mental, emotional and social health: A whole school approach. Routledge.
• Weare, K. (2015). What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools? Advice for Schools and Framework Document. National Children's Bureau.
• Weare, K., & Nind, M. (2011).Mental health promotion and problem prevention in schools: What does the evidence say? Health Promotion International, 26(suppl_1), i29-i69.

Wider reading:

• Department of Health (2015). Future in mind. Promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing
• Lester, H., & Glasby, J. (2006). Mental health policy and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Pilgrim, D., & Rogers, A. (2005). Sociology of mental health. Open University Press.
• Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (2003). Mental health and Inequality. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thornicroft, G. (2006). Shunned: Discrimination against people with mental Illness. Oxford University Press.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7761

Key words search

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, IAPT, EMHP, Wellbeing Practitioner, PWP, CYP, CBT, Schools, children and young people, diversity, equal opportunities, recovery-orientated values, case management supervision, professional development, psychosocial, signposting, recovery