Our 2025 Annual Report is now live — Read the full report
Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing are essential to learning. As part of our focus on the experiences and outcomes of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, we… Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing are essential to learning. As part of our focus on the experiences and outcomes of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, we look at how the education, health and care systems support children with mental and emotional health needs, as well as the challenges to and opportunities for promoting good mental health and wellbeing. Responding to children’s wellbeing and mental health needs has been an even greater focus for policymakers since 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic widening the gap between the number of young people who need support and available services.
Research lead
Associate Director, Mental health, Wellbeing & Inclusion
22 results
Written for Policy@Manchester , this report uses publicly available data to explore neighbourhood trends in young people’s wellbeing, as measured by the #BeeWell programme. Launched in 2021, the #BeeWell programme includes an annual survey of young people in Greater Manchester…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings
The importance of early language development and communication in children is well-established. We know that these are crucial skills to nurture in the early years of a child’s life, and that language development provides the foundation for future learning and…
By Dr Kerris Cooper
Summary Social and emotional learning (SEL) is concerned with fostering children’s social and emotional skills within educational settings, alongside their academic skills. This can include developing young people’s relationships, communication, decision-making, self-esteem and behaviour. SEL can play a central role…
By Education Policy Institute
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) and The Prince’s Trust have published a major study on the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Generation Z. Based on data from the Millennium Cohort Study, and supported by Tesco, the report…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has published its Annual Report on access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). The study examines access to specialist services, waiting times for treatment, and provision for the most vulnerable children in England.…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings and Jo Hutchinson
At the Education Policy Institute, our research programme is strongly centered on improving young people’s outcomes. Over the last few years we have published several reports on children’s mental health, which have mainly focused on issues around access to and…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings
Stay connected
Stay up to date with our most recent publications, reports, briefings and events on education and young people’s wellbeing.
For the first time, the Department of Health and Social Care has published statistics on preschool children with mental health conditions. Findings from the 2017 prevalence survey show that one in eighteen two- to four-year-olds has a condition that meets…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings
This report by the Education Policy Institute assesses the state of children’s mental health services in England. The research examines access to specialist services, waiting times for treatment, and provision for those children that are not able to receive treatment. The…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings and Jo Hutchinson
With the rate of university student suicides rising over the last 10 years, mental health has become a topic of increasing focus in higher education. [1] This analysis examines the prevalence of mental health issues within the student-aged population, before…
By Whitney Crenna-Jennings and Education Policy Institute
In December the House of Commons Health and Education Select Committees launched a joint inquiry to scrutinise the government’s green paper on mental health provisional for young people. ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper’ is focused on increasing…
By Education Policy Institute
