The North West Further Education Project: The Mental Health & Wellbeing of Learners aged 14-19

The study aimed to:

• Identify the levels of emotional and psychological distress among young people engaged in learning in Further Education establishments.
• Involve young people in developing effective support strategies.
• Identify current and emerging areas of innovative practice.
• Create a provider checklist for 'good and promising practice'.

There were three stages to this project:

• Part 1 - an online survey for young people (learners);
• Part 2 - an email survey for Further Education providers across General Further Education, Work Based Learning and Sixth Form Colleges;
• Part 3 - three interviews and field visits to develop case studies of innovative or interesting practice, or learners' stories.

This report will be of interest to: 

• North West (NW) Young Peoples Learning Alliance
• North West SFA
• Work Based Learning (WBL) Professionals and Senior Management
• Further Education (FE) Professionals and Senior Management
• NW Health Professionals and Senior Managers
• Learners in FE & WBL
• Local Authorities

The final report outlines the context of the project, and describes its main findings.  It goes on to make recommendations for the support of learners with mental health needs within Further Education based on learner and provider views, and uses case studies to illustrate good and promising practice, the characteristics of which are also outlined.

The resulting 'Good and Promising Practice' Checklist for providers, an output of this project, can be downloaded as part of this report, or is available separately as a Word document for practical use.  The checklist provides a series of suggestions for action based on the recommendations of the report, and aims to act as a starting point for providers wishing to add to their existing support practice for learners with mental health difficulties.

Documents
	Good Practice Checklist (word file)

Web Links
	Final Report: Mental Health and Wellbeing of Learners aged 14 - 19

The findings from this project lay the foundation of recommendations for learning providers to take steps towards galvanising their activities around mental health and wellbeing of young adults and also present characteristics of 'good and promising practice' guidance drawn from the ideas and experience imparted by the learners and learning providers themselves.

By reviewing their policies and range of support provision with the report's recommendations in mind, it is hoped that learning providers will be able to further promote the retention and achievement of learners.  Although this research was carried out in the North West region, the experiences reported (e.g. reluctance to disclose) are not unique to this region.  Learning providers in other regions are encouraged to look into their learners' experiences of mental health and wellbeing, and could also benefit from the report's recommendations and good practice checklist.