Unit information: Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing in Educational Contexts in 2024/25

Unit name	Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing in Educational Contexts
Unit code	EDUCM0079
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Esmé Sung
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	EDUCM0061
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

Children and young people’s mental health and well-being is influenced by developmental processes at multiple levels, from individual to socio-cultural. Approaches to working with mental health and well-being need to be informed by this dynamic and interactional system. The unit will aim to equip students with the knowledge necessary for understanding children and young people’s mental health and well-being from this unique perspective. The unit will also draw upon other perspectives, including early intervention, health and social inequalities, developmental psychopathology, risk and resilience and protective factors.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study

This unit equips students to acquire essential knowledge to understand children and young people’s mental health and well-being in typical and atypical development. It aims to give students a holistic sense of how children and young people’s mental health and well-being can be conceptualised in theoretical perspectives, reflected in specific context and addressed by respective intervention strategies. It offers students an in-depth understanding of how the dynamic and interactional contexts where children and young people are influencing their mental health and well-being.

Your learning on this unit

An overview of content

The unit will aim to:

• Review different theories of children and young people’s mental health involved in the complex structure of typical and atypical development, including psychodynamic, humanistic, behaviourist, cognitive behavioural approaches and eco-systemic interactional theoretical perspectives of mental health;
• Consider the different child, family and school factors impacting on children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing as well as the factors known in research as risk/contributing versus protective factors;
• Review in greater detail research related to the impact of poor mental health on children’s educational attainment and the central role that schools can play in children and young people’s social, emotional and academic development;
• Examine the research evidence on the impact of health and social inequality on children’s mental health and wellbeing;
• Explore the research evidence on the importance of early intervention in tackling the problem and supporting the development of social and emotional learning of children and young people in schools.
• Review a range of interventions aiming to improve children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on a review of high-quality social and emotional skills-based interventions within the context of whole-school approach and effective teaching practices to support social and emotional learning as part of everyday classroom activity.

How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit

Students will have:

• Gained knowledge about how children and young people’s mental health can be conceptualised in relation to various theoretical perspectives and research evidence.
• Acquired an understanding of the influence of risk factors vs protective factors children on and young people’s mental health.
• Developed the ability to critically evaluate issues faced by children and young children in the complex structure of typical and atypical development.
• Gained knowledge about a range of intervention aiming to improve children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. describe key concepts and relevant debates in the current study of mental health generally, and within educational contexts, especially the context of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
2. critically evaluate up to date theory and research in the field of children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing
3. assess the key implications of a pupil’s mental health and wellbeing to engagement with learning and academic attainment.
4. explain the ethical issues and practices of the field.

How you will learn

This unit will be taught using a blended approach consisting of a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous activities including lectures, reading and discussions.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):

Students will write an outline for their written assignment (300 words maximum).

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

Group presentation (30%) – 1000-word equivalent. ILOs 1-4
Essay 2500-word (70%). ILOs 1-4

When assessment does not go to plan

When a student fails the unit and is eligible to resubmit, failed components will be reassessed on a like-for-like basis. Students will resubmit a revised version of the original work. Where the presentation element requires resubmission, students will be asked to resubmit an individual presentation on the topic originally assessed by the group.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EDUCM0079).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.