Department for Education officials listen as psychologists tell them that English schooling suffers from “design failure”

90-minute meeting with civil servants comes after nearly 3,500 psychologists sign petition and open letter calling on DfE to carry out “urgent education reform to protect children’s mental health”.

Psychologists, who have collected nearly 3,500 signatures from fellow professionals concerned that English schooling is suffering from “design failure,” have taken their case to the Department for Education.

Armed with statistics pointing to worsening problems with young people’s mental health, increasing numbers of children classed as “severely absent” from school and demand for special educational needs and disability support soaring, clinical psychologists Hayley Smith and Natasha Holden presented their case that today’s education experience is a source of anxiety for many pupils.

The forum was a meeting at the Department for Education last month, which came after Dr Smith and Dr Holden started collecting signatures from fellow clinical and educational psychologists last year, calling for a meeting with policymakers about what they describe as a “mental health crisis” among young people.

A core argument was that the government’s main approach in terms of addressing the mental health troubles that clearly afflict many young people – providing support teams in schools – is tackling symptoms, rather than causes, when core aspects of education policy, including high-stakes testing and often “punitive” behaviour policies – were helping make schools “anxiety-generating” places for many.

Dr Smith told Education Uncovered that the presentation, which she delivered with Dr Holden on behalf of the Association of Clinical Psychologists, had generally been well-received by the civil servants who heard it. However, one group of officials – those working in the DfE’s team advising on school behaviour policies – were absent.