The School of Education at the University of Glasgow has begun a new five-year partnership with mental health charity Place2Be to equip student teachers with the resilience, knowledge and skills to create mentally healthy classrooms.

The partnership will see a full-time Place2Be clinician embedded at the University’s School of Education, where they will work across Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to help improve learning on mental health in a school community context, and to empower student teachers to contribute to mentally healthy schools.

Sahir Permall, Place2Be's Director for Scotland, said:

“We’re absolutely delighted that we’ll now be able to reach more student teachers through our new partnership with the University of Glasgow (ITE) – reaching over a quarter of all new ITE students in Scotland.

“We know from over 20 years of working in Scotland’s schools that you need to hold the hands of the adults who are holding the hands of the child if you want to make a real difference.

“You need to intervene early not only in children’s lives but in teachers’ careers – that’s why we developed our Place2Think reflective practice service and why we’ve worked successfully with Moray House student teachers over the last 4 years.”

Mary Lappin, Deputy Head of the School of Education at the University of Glasgow, said:

“We are very proud to partner with Place2Be to provide this much-needed mental health resource for our student teachers. The benefits of mental health and wellbeing support in school communities are clear to see, and we want to equip future generations of Scotland’s teachers with all the tools they need to help create mentally healthy classrooms across the country.”

The partnership builds on Place2Be’s successful partnership with Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh which is shown to have had a positive impact on the wellbeing and reflective capacity of their student teachers, alongside their knowledge and confidence in supporting children’s mental health in the classroom. With the programme extending to the University of Glasgow, over a quarter of all new ITE students in Scotland will benefit from this mental health and resilience focussed resource (SFC, 2023)  

What is Place2Be?

An evaluation of Place2Be’s Initial Teacher Education programme (2021-2022) at Moray House found:

  • Place2Think (reflective practice) sessions helped the student teachers with their own wellbeing (88% found it extremely or very helpful) and 88% said sessions supported their self-awareness
  • The partnership helped the majority with their resilience as a teacher (77%) and encouraged a more reflective approach to their practice (70% )
  • Most students (74% ) said that the partnership lectures and seminars had added to their teaching methods and 81% said they helped their understanding of children and young people’s mental health a little or a lot
  • 56% of students said that they had applied their learning to working relationships with children and young people

Read the full report of Place2Be's Initial Teacher Education partnership with Moray House School of Education and Sport.

Student teachers have told Place2Be how the programme has built their capacity as a teacher to respond to their pupils’ behaviour:

“Remembering that behaviour by pupils is often about what they are bringing into the room and not personal to you.”

“I managed to support a child with identifying their emotions and what they were feeling, which allowed me to work out how best to support them better.”

Dr Samantha Fawkner, Deputy Head of Moray House School of Education and Sport, said:

“Moray House School of Education and Sport is so proud of the work we have done as part of this flagship partnership with Place2Be. Our students, alumni, and the classrooms that they work in have benefitted immensely from the insight, support, and education that Place2Be provides. 

We are delighted that the School of Education at the University of Glasgow is joining this movement and we are excited to collaborate with them to enhance the mental health of Scotland’s classrooms, children, and citizens of the future.”

First published: 2 August 2023

<< News