Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Education Staff

That the Parliament welcomes the discussion paper, Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of education staff through professional supervision structures, from Barnardo’s Scotland; recognises that the paper aims to start a national conversation about the support available to education staff around their own mental health and wellbeing; notes the evidence in the report from Barnardo’s Scotland frontline staff working in schools across Scotland, which highlights that education staff are struggling to cope with increasing demands relating to children with unmet needs in their care; considers that the use of supervision is central to the work of other caring professions, such as social work and clinical practice; further considers the role of supervision in creating a trauma-informed and responsive workforce in line with Scottish Government commitments; acknowledges the importance of supporting education staff with their own mental health and wellbeing in order for them to be emotionally available for the pupils in their care, and congratulates Barnardo’s Scotland on publishing this paper calling for a wider conversation across Scotland about this issue.