Nursery staff call for training to deal with complex mental health needs in under-fives
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Almost three quarters of early years staff say they have struggled when working with children facing extremely complex backgrounds and challenging emotional and behavioural needs.
A new report by the Anna Freud Centre, reveals that 69 per cent of nursery staff who polled said they had experienced working with babies or children affected by trauma or abuse.
Some 71 per cent of the 900 nursery staff who took part in the survey added that they had worked with babies and children affected by domestic violence while 60 per cent said they had worked with babies or children from families affected by substance usage.
Almost half (48 per cent) said they had worked with children who had experienced the bereavement of either a parent or sibling.
Most professionals asked (91 per cent) said they had dealt with challenging situations that involved children who potentially had mental health issues, or social or emotional difficulties.
However, almost three quarters (74 per cent) of those polled, said they had felt confused and unsure of the best way to deal with these situations while more than half (53 per cent) said they had not received any additional training, alongside their standard training, that related to early years mental health.
Meanwhile, 42 per cent of staff told researchers that they had noticed signs that children in their care had had their emotional wellbeing affected by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.
Dr Camilla Rosan, head of the early years programme at the Anna Freud Centre said: “At times, nursery staff are clearly feeling under-prepared and under-resourced to manage and support children who are experiencing challenging emotions or have mental health needs.
“They are telling us that they want to know more about what lies behind emotions such as anger and aggression, as they are encountering them more than we think. They also tell us they want more training in the best ways to support a child who is experiencing these difficult emotions. It’s clear we need to prioritise the development of these skills and give nursery staff the support and training opportunities they so want and deserve about early years’ mental health.”
Responding to the report, Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said: “The results of this survey clearly show the range of challenges practitioners are facing. They are seeing the impact the Covid-19 pandemic and numerous lockdowns are having on our youngest children first hand and dealing with the difficulties.
“Our own recent research with the Education Policy Institute has shown nearly half of settings saying there were not enough opportunities to access specialist training such as child trauma and bereavement or supporting children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
“We wholeheartedly support calls that the sector needs more training to support staff for the complex work they are doing. This training is increasingly important for them to identify problems early as we know this can have the biggest impact on those children’s development. Support to the sector and the workforce is now more important than ever.”
