Enabling student voice
Mental health and wellbeing depend on having a sense of self-belief, belonging and autonomy. Children and young people need to feel they have influence and a ‘voice’.
Children and young people voice is about genuine consultation and participation. It means involving all children and young people in decision making about their own learning, classroom and school/college life.
The DfE states that children and young people benefit from having opportunities to influence decisions, to express their views and to develop strong social networks.
Done well, it can help all children and young people:
- Gain belief in their own abilities
- Build their knowledge and skills to make healthy choices
- Develop their independence
It is important to ensure that a range of voices are heard, which reflect the diversity of the children and young people community.
Schools and colleges need to ensure that they are aware of barriers to participation and that there are a range of strategies for engaging with children and young people with different communication preferences or needs.
- Youth Voice: We Need To Be Heard - YouTube
Example Participation and Consultation Methods:
- Using the My Health, My School survey
- Focus groups
- Engagement events
- Youth interview panels
- Activity-based workshops
- Interactive feedback/suggestion boards
- Voting systems
- Focused assemblies
- Radios/podcasts
- Peer support, buddy systems or Mental Health champions
- Children and young people self-evaluation
- Child and young person led parents’ evenings
Children and Young People-Led Audits
You can use these resources to support children and young people in your school/college to audit mental health provision by asking their peers questions or running focus groups.
Children and Young People have told us:
Between 2020 and 2024, the Mental Health Support Teams commissioned children and young people voice work and worked with children and young people in 18 schools to inform whole school/college priorities. These are the main themes that came out from this work:
- Staff need to be trained to be aware of mental health and how to listen
- Young people perceive behavioural policies as often having a negative impact on MHEW
- Safe spaces in school/colleges are needed
- MHEW spaces should be designed and decorated by children and young people
- More emphasis on MHEW in PSHE
- Lots more work to de-stigmatise mental health and make it more visible
- Keep pastoral support and behaviour support separate.
An example of participation we have carried out includes this animation that was produced by young people to help school/college staff to be able support them with anxiety.
