Will Yates

We're thrilled to have it out in the world - do give it a read! www.publicfirst.co.uk/green-roots-...

As well as this, colleagues at Public First, including @eddorrell.bsky.social, @jesslister.bsky.social and various others not on Bluesky, have produced some groundbreaking research and hugely exciting results.

This has been an absolute joy to be part of. Working with @alleynsschool.bsky.social, @oasisuk.bsky.social, @thereachfoundation.bsky.social, @thewellbeinghub.bsky.social, @wellingtoncollege.bsky.social, @staracademies.org, Hampton, LEHS and Eton has been inspiring and eye-opening.

So with all this in mind, what do we need?
- We need to match awareness with action
- MH provision should take particular account of gender and income inequality
- Mobile phone interventions need serious care and attention
- 16-18 year olds need help with transitions at the end of school.

Fourth, young people are very reliant on their phones. More than half of 11-18 year olds told us they spend at least 2hrs a day on their phones, and they told us that getting their phone confiscated at school was more likely to ruin their day than a poor grade or a detention.

As well as this, young people pointed to some gaps in the teaching they'd had on mental health and wellbeing. Although at least half said they'd been taught to deal with bullying, cyberbullying and online safety, only 42% said that they'd been taught how to look after their own mental health.

Third, school remains a stressful environment for young people. It's more of a cause of stress than home life, with 11-18 year olds rating school a 4.5/10 for stress as opposed to just 2.8 for friends and 2.7 for family.

Income is another big indicative factor, with young people from households with incomes of below £30k more likely to find various different factors stressful. In particular, they find school a cause of significant stress, as our unique 'star diagram' methodology shows.

Second, and most importantly, there are still significant inequalities. One big one is along gender lines: boys are about 20% more likely than girls to describe their mental health as quite good or very good.

What's more, by comparing the results for 16-18 year olds for the same questions asked in 2024 and 2021, we've been able to show that outcomes are improving for this age group. They reported lower levels of negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours across the board in 2024.

First, young people's mental health and wellbeing is on the up. 77% of young people between 11 and 18 in England told us their mental health is quite good or very good - though 16-18 year olds are not quite as happy as their peers.

So what have we learned in Phase 3 of the Coalition's work? Well, there are four points we think are really important (🧵):

Over the last year, Public First have been working with the Coalition for Youth Mental Health in Schools to develop an updated picture of how children's mental health and wellbeing has changed since the pandemic.

Today, our report is published in full. www.publicfirst.co.uk/green-roots-...

Public First's education team are hiring a summer intern! If you're a student or recent graduate with an interest in how good education policy gets made, we'd love to hear from you. Details here: www.publicfirst.co.uk/pf-internshi...

Some really cool new polling insights into geographical and Ofsted-rating discrepancies in teachers' expectations of school leavers. Read all about it and more in our new 'WP state of the nation' piece with the UPP Foundation: upp-foundation.org/wp-content/u...

Public First’s landmark study on conspiracies and disinformation in classrooms and among young people (led by @eddorrell.bsky.social and @sallyburtonshaw.bsky.social) publishes today after a year’s work. Rather timely really.

Vicar’s Santa sermon ‘ruins Christmas’ for sobbing school pupils The Rev Dr Paul Chamberlain has had to apologise for his Nativity talk that left teachers scrambling to ‘bring the magic back’

Love this story: vicar tells primary school pupils that Father Christmas isn’t real, their parents give them the presents in engagingly ill-judged sermon at school.

Facing a Friday full of teenagers talking total rot? Have a read of John Jerrim on bullshitters: www.iza.org/publications... (h/t @petewhitehead.bsky.social)

Will Yates Writing Education, politics, resources

Have picked up a bunch of new followers on here, which is fun. For some ideas of the stuff I'm interested in/have written about, head here: willyateswriting.wordpress.com

Excited to be publishing a major piece of teacher, parent and student opinion research on the ever-challenging subject of exclusions.
Thanks to the support of @mission44, we were able to carry out what was, I think, the ever biggest exercise of its kind on this subject. 1/10

Captain Tom’s family personally benefited from charity they founded, report finds Watchdog’s highly critical inquiry finds Hannah and Colin Ingram-Moore culpable of ‘serious and repeated’ misconduct

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024... we're about five years from an Armando Iannucci tour de force based on the Captain Tom story

Yes if there's room!

‘Look, they’re getting skin!’: are we right to strive to save the world’s tiniest babies? The long read: Doctors are pushing the limits of science and human biology to save more extremely premature babies than ever before. But when so few survive, are we putting them through needless suffe...

Found this very interesting and touching:

www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

How to preserve the family farm Tax breaks can harm those they purport to help

My dad grew up on his dad's farm, and his cousins are farmers, but they're not lining up behind Clarkson today. As my colleague Tim points out here, the changes to farm inheritance being protested today could end up being a boon to farmers. timleunig.substack.com/p/how-to-pre...

Experiencing the Xodus vs starting on Bluesky (London XC Champs, Parliament Hill, 16.11.24)