The Supportive School tackles some important contemporary issues of interest to teachers, parents and policy-makers alike. There is a widespread perception across the developed world that the social and emotional wellbeing of young people has been in decline in recent years and that various problem behaviours are on the rise. Because children spend so much of their time in educational institutions, schools are assumed to be part of the problem. But how precisely do schools affect young adolescents’ wellbeing? This book aims to answer that question.

The book brings together for the first time the results of over 300 research studies, both from the UK and further afield. It identifies the key factors related to schooling which impact upon young people’s development and affect their wellbeing. These include: the extent to which they feel ‘connected’ with school, their relationships with teachers and with their peers, their sense of the school as a learning community, and the ways in which they respond to the pressures of academic work. What matters is how schools bring these elements together to create a strong ‘culture of support’.

The Supportive School documents how schools handle young people, particularly at the key transition point from primary to secondary school, as well as the ways in which they respond to their pastoral and other concerns. It also places the UK’s much-criticised ‘performance’ on wellbeing issues in an international context and asks challenging questions about how far the UK is lagging behind.

Schools are currently under considerable pressure to give greater attention to issues of wellbeing. The overriding message from The Supportive School is that how schools approach these issues can make a difference to young people’s lives and emotional wellbeing.