A new study from The University of Manchester has found that a well-known mental health intervention for children may be no more effective than the usual social and emotional learning (SEL) programs already being taught in primary schools.
The research, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, was led by experts from the Manchester Institute of Education working alongside colleagues from the University of Dundee and Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey. After looking at whether Passport: Skills for Life helped to improve children’s mental well-being, they found that it appeared to make little difference compared to what schools were already doing.
Passport is designed to help children aged 9 to 11 manage their emotions, cope with stress and build good relationships. It includes 18 weekly lessons covering topics like feelings, friendships and handling change.
Teachers who were trained in the program delivered these lessons in class—the idea was that by helping children to build strong emotional and social skills, it could prevent mental health problems like anxiety and depression.