Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2023 - wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey

Part 3 of the report describes experiences of education, services and support for children and young people. 

For children, this section presents data on:

• days of missed schooling 
• feelings about school
• mental health and wellbeing support in school
• help seeking for mental health concerns

For young people, this section presents data on:

• help seeking for mental health concerns
• feelings about education

Breakdowns by sex and mental health and comparisons with previous years are presented in the Excel data tables where available. This report focuses on differences that are statistically significant.

Parents of children aged 8 to 16 years were asked about the number of days of school their child had missed for any reason during the Autumn term of 2022. The same question was asked in the 2021 (wave 2) and 2022 (wave 3) survey about the number of days of schooling missed in the Autumn term of 2020 and 2021.

When comparing the number of days of missed school in the Autumn term of 2020, Autumn term 2021 and Autumn term 2022, it is important to bear in mind that the educational environment differed between these points. In the Autumn term of 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 can be found in the Pupil attendance in schools publication. 

In the Autumn term of 2022, 3.8% of children aged 8 to 16 years missed more than 15 days of school. Children with a probable mental disorder were 7 times more likely than children unlikely to have a mental disorder to have missed more than 15 days of school (11.2% compared with 1.5%). 

The proportion of children missing more than 15 days of school was similar between the 2022 and 2023 waves. However, the proportion of children missing between 6 and 15 days fell between the 2022 and 2023 waves. According to parent-report, 24.0% of children missed 6 to 15 days in the Autumn term of 2021, compared with 11.7% being absent 6 to 15 days in the Autumn term of 2022. 

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

Figure 3.1 base: 8 to 16 year olds.

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.

For these statements, 4 were phrased positively (for example, ‘I can be myself at school’), and 2 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 2023 and we focus on the proportion agreeing (a little and a lot) with each statement.

For children aged 11 to 16 years, 9 in 10 (88.8%) said they had at least one friend they could turn to for support, and over 7 in 10 agreed that ’I feel safe at school’ (76.2%) and ’I can be myself at school’ (74.7%). 6 in 10 agreed that ’I enjoy learning at school’ (60.5%). 

In terms of the impact of COVID-19, 31.0% of children agreed that ’I am worried about the effect COVID-19 has had on my schoolwork’ and 31.6% agreed that ’I am worried about the effect COVID-19 might have on my future exam results’.

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: 

• 75.3% agreed that ‘I have at least one friend I can turn to for support’ compared with 92.4% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder
• 56.3% agreed that ‘I feel safe when I am at school’, compared with 85.1% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder
• 49.1% agreed that ‘I can be myself at school’, compared with 84.6% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 
• 35.2% agreed that ‘I enjoy learning at school’, compared with 70.9% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder 

Feelings about school were similar in 2022 and 2023, with 1 exception. There was a fall in the percentage of children agreeing with the statement ’I am worried about the effect COVID-19 might have on my future exam results’ from 43.5% in 2022 to 31.6% in 2023.

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

Figure 3.2 base: 11 to 16 year olds.

Children aged 11 to 16 years were asked whether they had accessed support at school for their mental health and wellbeing. 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 and 2023. 

Of children aged 11 to 16, 23.3% reported having accessed support at school for mental health and wellbeing. 

Children with a probable mental disorder were more likely to have accessed mental health and wellbeing support at school; 53.1% reported accessing support compared with 13.7% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder.

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

Most children aged 11 to 16 years had positive feelings about access to mental health support at school: 81.3% knew how to get support and 75.1% agreed they were able to access support if they needed to. Children were less likely to agree that ’I feel comfortable talking to adults about my mental health’ (59.3% agreed) or ‘The support at my school is helpful’ (64.5% agreed). 

Girls were less likely than boys to agree that the support available at their school was helpful: 56.0% of girls agreed with this statement compared with 72.3% of boys.

Feelings about support at school were generally similar for those who had and had not accessed support. However, those who had accessed support were less likely to agree that ’I am able to access support in my school when I need it’ (60.4% compared with 80.1%).

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

Figure 3.3 base: 11 to 16 year olds.

Parents of children aged 8 to 16 years who reported that they had a concern about the mental health of their child were asked if they had sought help or advice for the concern over the past year. The same question was asked of young people aged 17 to 25 years who had a concern about their own mental health. These questions were asked in 2022 and 2023. The questions were also included in previous waves, but this report only presents results for 2022 and 2023, as previous waves covered shorter time periods and findings are therefore not comparable.

Comparisons are presented for children aged 8 to 16 years, and young people aged 17 to 24 years (to allow comparisons with 2022, when 25 year olds were not included).
 

Amongst children whose parent had a concern about their child’s mental health, 3 in 4 (76.2%) had a parent who reported seeking help or advice for this concern. This was similar for boys and girls, but more likely for children with a probable mental disorder (84.6%) than for children unlikely to have a mental disorder (63.5%).

Just over 1 in 2 (55.4%) young people who had a concern about their mental health reported seeking help or advice. 

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

Parents of children aged 8 to 16 years were asked whether they had sought any help or advice about their child’s mental health over the previous year from a list of informal sources (such as family and friends) and services (including health and education). The question was asked to all parents, regardless of whether they reported having concerns about the mental health of their child. The same question was asked to all young people aged 17 to 25 years. 

These questions were also asked in 2022, also about sources of help or advice over the past year. The questions were also included in previous waves, but this report only presents results for 2022 and 2023, as previous waves covered shorter time periods and findings are therefore not comparable.

Health services included primary care, social care, paediatrics or child health, and specialist mental health services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Education services included teachers or university staff, school, college, or university based mental health support services (including school Mental Health Support Teams), and educational support services. 

Comparisons are presented for children aged 8 to 16 years, and young people aged 17 to 24 years (to allow comparisons with 2022, when 25 year olds were not included). 

In 2023, the most commonly reported sources of help and advice for children aged 8 to 16 years were education services (31.9%), friends or family (19.2%) and health services (15.9%). The least commonly reported source of help was text chat mental health support (0.7%).

Parents of children with a probable mental disorder were more likely to have sought help or advice for a concern from each of the listed sources above than parents of those unlikely to have a mental disorder. Children with a probable mental disorder were also more likely than those unlikely to have a mental disorder to have parents who sought help from community groups (14.9% compared with 1.4%), a private, paid for service (8.6% compared with 1.4%) or Accident and Emergency (3.6% compared with 0.3%). 

The prevalence of using most sources were similar for boys and girls with a probable mental disorder, although girls with a probable mental disorder were more likely than boys with a probable mental disorder to have parents who reported seeking help or advice for a mental health concern from Accident and Emergency (6.6% compared with 0.9%) .

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

The most commonly reported sources of help and advice for young people aged 17 to 24 years were friends or family (44.9%), online or telephone support (22.5%), health services (19.4%) and education services (13.3%). The least commonly reported source of help was Accident and Emergency (2.1%).

Compared with parents of children aged 8 to 16 years, young people were more likely to report contacting friends or family for help and advice (44.9% of young people compared with 19.2% of children). They were also more likely to report using online or telephone support (22.5% of young people compared with 12.6% of children). As might be expected given that some young people were no longer in education, they were less likely to report contacting education services for mental health support (13.3% of young people compared with 31.9% of children).

There were some differences in sources of support by sex in this age group. Young women were twice as likely as young men to report contact with education services (17.9% compared with 9.0%) or health services (26.9% compared with 12.6%). Young men were more likely than young women to say that they had not had contact with any of the services listed (52.1% compared with 35.6%).

Young people with a probable mental disorder were more likely than those unlikely to have a mental disorder to report using each of the sources listed above. In addition, those with a probable mental disorder were more likely to report using community groups (12.8% compared with 0.9%) and a private, paid for service (15.9% compared with 2.6%).

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

Young people aged 17 to 25 years who reported being in further education (e.g. at a sixth form or at a further education college) or higher education (e.g. at a university) were asked a series of questions about their experiences. They were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, neither agreed nor disagreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed, with 7 statements.

For these statements, 5 were phrased positively (for example, ‘There is a good balance between face to face and online learning’), and 2 were phrased negatively (for example, ‘I feel isolated from other students’). These questions were only asked in 2023.

There were no statistically significant differences between students in further education (FE) and students in higher education (HE) for the percentage that agreed with each statement. When considering the percentage that disagreed with the statements, HE students were less likely than FE students to disagree with ’I feel isolated from other students’ (58.6% compared with 75.0%).

Most FE and HE students had a positive view of the support available in their college, university or educational setting.

• 81.0% of FE students and 75.3% of HE students agreed that ’There is support available from lecturers and tutors for questions or problems relating to my course’
• 72.5% of FE students and 73.1% of HE students agreed that ’There is support available for student mental health and wellbeing’

Some students were less positive about some aspects of their educational experience:

• 21.1% of FE students and 21.9% of HE students disagreed that ‘There is a good balance between online and face-to-face learning’ 
• 10.5% of FE students and 20.3% of HE students agreed that ‘I feel isolated from other students’

In terms of preparation for life and future jobs:

• 59.7% of FE students and 63.9% of HE students agreed that ‘If I do well with my education, I will have the same chances as everyone else of getting a steady job’. However, 21.4% of FE students and 20.3% of HE students disagreed with this statement
• 54.0% of FE students and 55.6% of HE students agreed that ‘When I finish my education, I will have the skills and knowledge I need to be prepared for life’. However, 21.5% of FE students and 20.7% of HE students disagreed with this statement

A minority of FE (18.6%) and HE (13.8%) students agreed with the statement ’I am worried about COVID-19 affecting my exam and course results’. 

For more information see: Table 3.7 of the Excel data tables.

Figure 3.4 base: 17 to 25 year old students in further education.

Figure 3.5 base: 17 to 25 year old students in higher education.