Policy Press
2 Toxic experiences: what young people say about schools
Abstract
Schools can harm their students through mechanisms of educational disengagement, lack of a sense of belonging in a school community, and fear and anxiety. If schools do not engage students in learning or build their sense of belonging in school, students may seek ways to define their identity, status and transition to adulthood via other markers, which can include substance use, violence and other risk behaviours. If students feel unsafe at school or anxious about schoolwork, this can harm their mental health directly. It can encourage engagement in risk behaviours via, for example, self-medicating with substance use, or it can encourage protection-seeking by involvement with anti-school peer groups, facilitated by involvement in violence and substance use.
Abstract
Schools can harm their students through mechanisms of educational disengagement, lack of a sense of belonging in a school community, and fear and anxiety. If schools do not engage students in learning or build their sense of belonging in school, students may seek ways to define their identity, status and transition to adulthood via other markers, which can include substance use, violence and other risk behaviours. If students feel unsafe at school or anxious about schoolwork, this can harm their mental health directly. It can encourage engagement in risk behaviours via, for example, self-medicating with substance use, or it can encourage protection-seeking by involvement with anti-school peer groups, facilitated by involvement in violence and substance use.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- About the author vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction: how schools can seriously damage young people’s health 1
- Toxic experiences: what young people say about schools 6
- Toxic trends and patterns: data on young people’s health 22
- Toxic policy? Education policy and its consequences 33
- Health interventions in schools as sticking plasters 42
- The Learning Together intervention: effective school detox in England 49
- International examples of effective school detox 68
- What works, for whom and where 78
- Detoxifying education policy 87
- Conclusion: detoxifying education 96
- References 100
- Index 122
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- About the author vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction: how schools can seriously damage young people’s health 1
- Toxic experiences: what young people say about schools 6
- Toxic trends and patterns: data on young people’s health 22
- Toxic policy? Education policy and its consequences 33
- Health interventions in schools as sticking plasters 42
- The Learning Together intervention: effective school detox in England 49
- International examples of effective school detox 68
- What works, for whom and where 78
- Detoxifying education policy 87
- Conclusion: detoxifying education 96
- References 100
- Index 122
