School pupils need supporting to show 'more grit', says education secretary

ITV News

16-05-2025

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson spoke to reporter Lewis Denison for ITV's news platform for teenagers, the Rundown.
Secondary school pupils need more grit, the education secretary has told ITV News, as she announced more mental health support for students in England.
Bridget Phillipson said one in six secondary schools will have access to a mental health professional by March next year, rolling out the support to nearly one million extra pupils.
The education secretary said the support will make sure young people are "really well prepared for the world to come".
"It's about what people call grit or resilience, or just being able to deal with life's ups and downs. "There are lots of challenges for today's young people, different to the challenges when I was growing up, and It's about making sure they're really well prepared for the world to come.
"It's about actually giving people the chance to open up, to talk about what might be, what might be affecting them."
Asked if rather than creating gritty young people, mental health support would build a "generation of snowflakes", the minister said: "The evidence is clear that if people if young people feel happy and supported in school, they feel like they belong here, they actually do better at school, so they get better academic outcomes.
She added that by 2030 the aim is that every secondary school pupil in England will have access to the support, as part of a drive to improve school attendance.
Research has found that poor attendance has a direct impact on a pupils' attainment, future earnings and life chances.
According to the government, pupils persistently absent in secondary school end up earning £10,000 less at age 28 compared to those with strong attendance.
The government said an extra £680 million in funding will be used to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to support both children and adults.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: "Facing mental health problems when you're young can hold you back in school, damage your potential and leave you with lifelong consequences. It's devastating and it's got to change.
"That's why this government is bringing in vital services to schools, so they can intervene early, support pupils, and help prevent conditions from becoming severe.
"Backed by an extra £680 million in government funding this year, we are transforming mental health services for children – hiring more staff, delivering more talking therapies, and getting waiting lists down through our Plan for Change – so children can have the best possible start in life."
The government also announced it had commissioned mental health charity Anna Freud to carry out research into the progression of teenagers over a five year period.
It will follow 8,000 secondary school pupils to assess the challenges they face at home, school and beyond and closely examine their mental health and educational attainment.
Ministers say the study will help identify and understand important gaps between groups in attainment and mental health so the government is in a better position to be able to tackle them.
The study's lead professor, Jess Deighton, told ITV News she's hoping to find insight around the inequalities across England's education system.
"For example, we know that young people who have experience of poverty certainly experience more difficulties in terms of reaching their educational potential. And also they're more likely to experience mental health problems and there are some challenges as well for children, young people with special educational needs.
"So we're really hoping that the research will deliver some insights about how we can support those young people to be able to thrive and achieve."