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Publication, Part of

Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2022 - wave 3 follow up to the 2017 survey

Official statistics, Survey

Part 3: Education and employment

Part 3 of the report describes experiences of education and employment for children and young people.  

For children, this section presents data on: 

  • days of missed schooling  
  • feelings about school 
  • mental health and well-being support in school

For young people, this section presents data on: 

  • mental health by education and employment status 
  • isolation, support and opportunities by employment status

Days of missed schooling

Definition

Parents of children aged 7 to 16 years were asked about the number of days of school their child had missed for any reason during the Autumn term of 2021. The same question had been asked in the 2021 (wave 2) survey about the number of days of schooling missed in the Autumn term of 2020.   

When comparing the number of days of missed school in Autumn 2021 and Autumn 2020, it is important to bear in mind that the educational environment differed between these points. In Autumn 2020 there were more opportunities for virtual learning and more measures in place to control the spread of COVID-19 including school closures. This context should be noted when comparing results over time.  

Data from the Department for Education on school attendance during the pandemic can be found in the Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic publication. 

Days of missed schooling by mental health of child

1 in 18 (5.6%) children aged 7 to 16 years missed more than 15 days of school in the Autumn term of 2021.  

School absence rates were higher in children with a probable mental disorder; 12.6% missed more than 15 days of school compared with 3.9% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder. 

The proportion of children missing more than 15 days of school fell between the 2021 and 2022 survey waves; according to parent-report 10.7% of children had missed more than 15 days in the Autumn term of 2020, compared with 5.6% reporting 15 or more days absence in the Autumn term of 2021. 

However, the proportion of children who had not missed any days of school in the previous Autumn term also fell from 51.6% in the Autumn term of 2020 to 30.1% in the Autumn term of 2021. This appeared to be driven by an increase in the proportion of children missing between 1 and 5 days of school, which rose from 15.1% in Autumn 2020 to 41.5% in Autumn 2021. 

For more information see: Table 3.1 of the Excel data tables.


Figure 3.1 base: 7 to 16 year olds.


Feelings about school

Definition

Children aged 11 to 16 years were asked a series of questions about school, for example, how safe they felt at school and how much they enjoyed learning. Children were asked whether they agreed a lot, agreed a little, neither agreed nor disagreed, disagreed a little, or disagreed a lot, with 6 statements. 

4 of the statements were phrased positively (for example, ‘I can be myself at school’), and 2 of the statements were phrased negatively and focused on worries about the impact of COVID-19 at school (for example, ‘I am worried about the effect COVID-19 has had on my schoolwork’). These questions were only asked in 2022 and we focus on the proportion agreeing (a little and a lot) with each statement. 

Feelings about school by mental health of child

The great majority of children (92.5%) agreed that they have at least 1 friend that they can turn to for support, and most (82.0%) reported that they felt safe at school. 75.8% agreed “I can be myself at school” and 65.8% agreed that they “enjoy learning at school”.  

In terms of worries about the impact of COVID-19 at school, 43.5% agreed that “I am worried about the effect COVID-19 might have on my future exam results” and 38.6% agreed that “I am worried about the effect COVID-19 has had on my schoolwork”. 


Figure 3.2 base: 11 to 16 year olds.

Children with a probable mental disorder were less likely to have positive views of school than those unlikely to have a mental disorder as follows: 

  • 47.6% agreed that “I can be myself at school”, compared with 86.0% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 
  • 61.2% agreed that “I feel safe when I am at school”, compared with 89.2% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 
  • 51.5% agreed that “I enjoy learning at school”, compared with 73.1% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 
  • 77.8% agreed that “I have at least 1 friend I can turn to for support” compared with 97.0% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 

For more information see: Table 3.2 of the Excel data tables.


Mental health and well-being support at school

Definition

Children aged 11 to 16 years were asked whether they had accessed support at school for their mental health and well-being. They were also asked a series of questions about support at school, for example, whether they knew how to access support. These questions were asked of all children, regardless of whether they reported accessing support and were only asked in 2022.  

Access to mental health and well-being support at school

  • 1 in 4 (25.1%) 11 to 16 year olds accessed mental health and well-being support at school in the past year; 59.8% of children with a probable mental disorder reported use.

1 in 4 (25.1%) children aged 11 to 16 years reported that they had accessed mental health and well-being support at school.  

Children with a probable mental disorder were more likely to report accessing mental health and well-being support at school. Of those with a probable mental disorder, 59.8% reported accessing support, compared with 14.9% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder. 

For more information see: Table 3.3 of the Excel data tables.

Feelings about mental health and well-being support at school

The majority of children were positive about access to support at school: 83.0% knew how to get support and 75.9% agreed they were able to access support if they needed to. However, children were less likely to be positive about the value or appropriateness of the support available at school: 61.1% agreed it would be helpful and 57.0% felt they would feel comfortable talking about their mental health with adults at their school.     


Figure 3.3 base: 11 to 16 year olds.

Agreement with the statements were similar for children who had and had not accessed mental health and well-being support at school. There were no statistically significant differences between these 2 groups for girls. However, in boys, there were some differences between these 2 groups:  

  • 96.8% of boys who had accessed support agreed that “I know how to get help for worries or concerns at my school", compared with 78.8% of boys who had not accessed support 
  • 83.4% of boys who had accessed support agreed that “The support available at my school is helpful”, compared with 57.5% of boys who had not accessed support 

For more information see: Table 3.4 of the Excel data tables.


Young people’s mental health

Definition

This section presents information about probable mental disorder by education or employment status for young people aged 17 to 24 years in 2022. 3 groups were identified: 

  • in education
  • in employment
  • not in education or employment

Young people could be counted in both the education group and the employment group, for example, if they were at university but also in a part-time job. 

There were not many participants in the ‘not in education or employment’ group. Therefore, estimates for this group are imprecise and should be treated with caution and comparisons between young men and young women in this group were not possible.  

The Participation in education, training and employment: 2021 publication contains national participation figures for 16 to 18 year olds.   

Mental health by education and employment status of young person

Rates of probable mental disorder were 22.2% among those in education, 20.8% in those in employment and 26.5% in those not in education or employment. There were no statistically significant differences between these rates.  

For young people in employment, rates of probable mental disorder were higher in young women, 29.3% had a probable mental disorder compared with 11.2% of young men. 

For more information see: Table 3.5 of the Excel data tables.


Young people’s isolation, support and opportunities

Definition

Young people aged 17 to 24 years were asked a series of questions about their experiences according to their education and employment status. The 3 groups identified were those: 

  • in education and employment (for example, at university but also in a part time job)
  • in employment but not in education
  • not in education or employment

These questions were included in 2022 only. Young people who were in education but not in employment were not asked the following questions, as the intention was to examine the experiences of young people who were in the workplace, or who were not in education or employment. Therefore, these groups are different to the groups used in the previous section on young people’s mental health. 

Young people were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, neither agreed nor disagreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed, with 3 statements. 

These statements varied slightly depending on whether the young person was in education or employment: 

  • “I feel isolated from others” (for those not in education or employment) or “I feel isolated from colleagues or others I work with” (for the other 2 groups) 
  • “There is support available for mental health and well-being” (for those not in education or employment) or “there is support available at my workplace for mental health and well-being” (for the other 2 groups) 
  • “I have access to opportunities for learning, training and development” (same question asked to all) 

When separated by education and employment status there were few young people in some of the groups, in particular the not in education or employment group. Therefore, these estimates are imprecise and should be treated with caution.  


Isolation, support and opportunities by employment status of young person

  • 2 in 5 (40.5%) young people aged 17 to 24 years who were not in education or employment agreed they felt isolated from others. 

Young people not in education or employment were more likely than other young people to agree (strongly agree or agree) that they felt isolated from others; 40.5% agreed with this statement compared with 15.5% of those in employment but not education, and 8.8% of those in employment and education. Differences between the latter 2 groups were not statistically significant. 


Figure 3.4 base: 17 to 24 year olds.

The majority of young people in all 3 groups agreed with the statement: “There is support available for mental health and well-being” with no statistically significant difference between groups.  

Young people in employment but not education were more likely than young people in the other groups to agree with the statement “I have access to opportunities for learning, training and development”. In this group, 78.4% agreed, compared with 58.3% of those not in education or employment, and 58.9% of those in education and employment. 

Comparisons between young men and young women in the not in education or employment group were not possible due to small sample sizes. Generally, there were no statistically significant differences in agreement with the statements between young men and young women in the other groups. The exception was that young women in education and employment were less likely than young men in this group to agree there was support for their mental health and well-being at their workplace (37.1% compared with 67.2%).  

For more information see: Table 3.6 of the Excel data tables.


Last edited: 31 January 2023 9:34 am