Managing the mental health of young people is one of the major challenges of modern times.

More than 65 million young people worldwide aged 10-19 are suffering from a common mental health problem, and rates of self-injury and suicide have risen in the past decade.

Meanwhile, only a relatively small minority of young people could be said to be “flourishing”.

This matters because mental health in young people tends to be associated with school attendance and learning.

It also predicts life trajectories in many important domains, including work, relationships and health.

I was recently part of the Myriad (My resilience in adolescence) project, a rigorous research programme funded by the Wellcome Trust, exploring schools-based mindfulness training, an approach that has a great deal of enthusiasm behind it. 

Over eight years, researchers worked with more than 28,000 children, 650 teachers and 100 schools.

We learned that mindfulness training in schools wasn’t the magic bullet many thought it was, at least not when the programme was delivered by teachers to younger adolescents.

But we learned a lot about what it takes to create a flourishing school. 

What is a ‘flourishing’ school?

A flourishing school is a place where:

• Children feel it is a safe place to learn, be with friends, play and pursue interests. 
• There is an inclusive, positive, respectful climate in which children and teachers enjoy spending time. 
• Staff can meet the universal educational prerogative to prepare young people for life while also recognising that “no one size fits all” - that children have individual needs and ways of learning.  
• Children learn emotional, social and life skills alongside their academic skills. 
• Teachers’ strengths, growth and wellbeing are recognised, honoured and their professional development is prioritised.

In short, a flourishing school is a place in which children and all who work there can thrive. 

But how do you create such an environment? A group of leading education researchers, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, has set out a framework to help. 

This model moves away from the idea that there are easy fixes and recognises the complex interplay of multiple factors.

It is organised around five areas: thoughts, attitudes and behaviours; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; and responsible decision making.

The wider context includes broader national, community, family, school and classroom influences. Its aims are short and long term, and include careful consideration of economics, culture and inequalities.

And it provides a framework for school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programmes.

The evidence on SEL programmes is compelling.

More than 10 meta-analyses, with hundreds of studies and more than half a million students, show that the best SEL programmes improve students’ social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes across all ages and across gender, ethnicity and race, peer relationships and levels of deprivation.

They also improve school safety, functioning and climate.

So, bearing all of this in mind, what can teachers and schools do to create a flourishing school?

1. Have a dedicated SEL programme 

The first and most obvious implication is that a flourishing school has an integrated evidence-based SEL programme as an essential part of its provision and ethos.

The best SEL programmes tend to be “Safe” - sequenced (staged, step by step), active (involving children in learning), focused (on the five areas) and explicit (taught with clear learning objectives).

This requires teacher training, buy-in from the students and senior leadership, a truly integrated approach where it is part of the school ethos and life, and resourcing.

2. Model social and emotional skills 

Social emotional skills can be “caught”, as well as taught, through a positive school climate.

Schools in which there is a deep commitment to dignity, inclusivity, relationships and respect create the conditions for SEL by giving children the chance to see adults and peers modelling these skills and to learn in a safe environment.  

It doesn’t have to be a series of grand gestures, it can be modelled during small moments in classrooms, the lunch hall, assemblies and at the end and start of the school day at the school gates.

3. Prioritise student voice 

Students’ voices and full active participation are likely to be essential to the success of any SEL.

We spent a day with young people talking about mental health and the role of schools, and learned a lot from them.

4. Focus on teacher wellbeing 

It is blindingly obvious, but a flourishing school is premised on the flourishing of its teachers.

A positive school climate and SEL relies on teachers who are valued, in every sense - financially, professionally and at a human level - and given opportunities for professional development, and whose morale and wellbeing are prioritised.

5. Be realistic 

Last, and critically, SEL is not without limitations. While schools have a crucial role, they provide only one small part of young people’s social-emotional learning.

Our research suggests that just 1 to 10 per cent of young people’s mental health is explainable at the level of schools. 

So, give yourself a break - parents, young people and broader systemic issues all influence young people’s mental health too. 

SEL is deeply situated in values and culture, and so needs careful adaptation to a particular community and school.

There is no one size fits all - any approach needs to accommodate children’s different needs. 

Schools are expected by national policy, parents and fear-inducing Ofsted audits to relentlessly pursue academic attainment, with ever-diminishing budgets.

In this context, SEL can easily become a tick-box exercise and an extra burden on schools that, paradoxically, backfires and creates more pressure. 

Flourishing is not a zero-sum game of choosing between academic, social and emotional outcomes - we need a wider conversation about values that includes autonomy, diversity, dignity and how best to create an education system that is aligned with those values.

Willem Kuyken is the Sir John Ritblat Family Foundation professor of mindfulness and psychological science at the University of Oxford