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Understand this Curriculum connection

Mental health and wellbeing

Introduction

Mental health and wellbeing education focuses on strategies to maintain and enhance individual and community mental health and wellbeing.

 

The Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education defines mental health as “a state of mental wellbeing in which a person can function and manage ordinary stresses”. Wellbeing is defined as “a sense of wellness and quality of life or the capacity to look after their own or others’ health, safety and relationships, including developing and maintaining a healthy relationship with digital tools”.

 

The purpose of this Curriculum connection is to:

  • develop student understanding of the factors that influence the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities
  • guide educators to identify content in the Australian Curriculum that embeds mental health and wellbeing education across learning areas
  • connect educators to a range of resources and training that have been developed to support mental health and wellbeing education.

“Research shows that high levels of mental health are associated with increased learning, creativity and productivity, more pro-social behaviour and positive social relationships, and with improved physical health and life expectancy.” Beyond Blue – What is mental health?

 

A holistic approach to mental health and wellbeing education aims to develop positive, inclusive and resilient individuals, and learning communities where young people can “reach their full potential, experience fulfilling relationships, and adapt and cope with challenging circumstances.” National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This includes normalising conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

 

Through developing an understanding of the factors that influence the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, students are supported to appreciate the importance of:

  • connectedness and belonging
  • the ability to manage self and their interactions with others
  • accessing reliable information and services to manage health and safety
  • engaging in health-enhancing behaviours.

The Mental health and wellbeing Curriculum connection shows how content from across the Australian Curriculum learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities can be organised to develop whole-school mental health and wellbeing education programs. Evidence demonstrates that a whole learning community approach to wellbeing achieves the best outcomes. (Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health & Sustainable Development: 2018 Report).

Implementing a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing education

There are 2 interlinking resources to support planning for mental health and wellbeing education: 

  1. Curriculum connection: Mental health and wellbeing (ACARA) 
  2. Content framework centred around mentally healthy communities (Be You). 
Curriculum connection: Mental health and wellbeing

 

The Curriculum connection: Mental health and wellbeing shows educators where mental health and wellbeing education is embedded across the curriculum. Teachers may make additional connections that best suit their school context. 

 

Delivery of an age-appropriate curriculum where students learn about the factors that influence the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities supports the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes to establish and maintain positive health behaviours. 

 

Be You content framework

 

Be You’s content framework provides educators and leaders with a structure for accredited professional learning, and the actions that schools can take to implement a whole learning community approach to children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. 

Figure 1: Be You’s content framework 

 

Be You is the national mental health and wellbeing initiative for learning communities. It is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health, and delivered by Beyond Blue, in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia and Headspace.  

 

Be You offers a flexible, whole learning community approach that builds on schools' current supports for the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people, educators and families.  

 

Be You provides free, evidence-informed tools and resources that may support everyday practice and are designed to fit within a school's existing framework. 

Structure

Australian Curriculum content can be viewed using multiple pathways:  

  • year levels
  • learning areas
  • general capabilities
  • cross-curriculum priorities.

This Curriculum connection identifies 4 key aspects of learning, which are used to prioritise the content of mental health and wellbeing education across the curriculum.  

 

The 4 interrelated key aspects of learning about Mental health and wellbeing are:  

  • connectedness and belonging
  • personal and social skills
  • accessing support
  • health-enhancing behaviours.
Key aspects

These key aspects of learning have been developed in consultation with Be You and Headspace. The key aspects of learning are specific to the Curriculum connection and supplement Be You’s content framework, which provides a structure to implement a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.  

 

The 4 interrelated key aspects of learning about mental health and wellbeing are:

A strong sense of connectedness, belonging and inclusion is a significant factor for positive mental health and wellbeing. People establish a sense of belonging through connection with people, groups, places, beliefs and/or ideas.

 

Connectedness is the sense of caring for and being cared for by others. Children and young people feel connected when they feel that they belong, are an active part of their community, are treated equally, and feel safe, accepted, respected and included. (Adapted from Be You Mentally Healthy Communities.)

 

Belonging is the sense of being a valued member of a group and respected by others. It’s the bond that connects individuals to others, communities, place/s, beliefs and ideas. When children and young people feel a sense of belonging, they are more motivated and more successful learners. Regular interactions with people or groups they belong to support young people to build a sense of who they are and where they fit in their culture and/or community. (Adapted from Be You Mentally Healthy Communities.)

 

A child or young person’s attitude towards themselves, other people and their environment is strongly influenced by the significant people in their life. Promoting acceptance of diversity and inclusion through respectful interactions is important for the positive mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

 

Through the Australian Curriculum, students learn about belonging and identity by exploring who they are, where they come from and the groups to which they belong. They evaluate how their strengths, values and beliefs influence their own identity and how they can influence the way other people view them. Students investigate the many factors that influence personal and cultural identities and how these identities can change over time. They recognise the importance of social connection and propose strategies that support people to connect with their community.

Students with well-developed social and emotional skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, collaborate, develop empathy, set goals and resolve conflict. They feel positive about themselves and the world around them. Through the Australian Curriculum, students learn to:

  • explore the factors that influence emotions, manage them effectively and plan behaviours to achieve goals and positive outcomes
  • persist and adapt during challenging situations
  • build, manage and sustain respectful relationships with diverse others
  • understand what makes a relationship positive, safe and respectful
  • interact and communicate effectively with others
  • build resilience.

Accessing reliable and timely information, services and support networks helps children and young people to remain healthy and safe, and develop help-seeking behaviours. When they feel safe and supported in an environment that is characterised by respectful relationships, they learn more effectively, their attendance and engagement in learning are enhanced, and they experience positive wellbeing. Developing student understanding of reliable information, services and support networks that are available and relevant to them allows them to access, understand, interrogate and use this information to promote their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing.

 

Through the Australian Curriculum, students become critical consumers of health information, assessing its reliability. They learn strategies for dealing with situations where their own or others’ health, safety and wellbeing are at risk. Students learn to manage personal safety in offline and online environments. They critique health information and develop plans to manage and promote health, safety and wellbeing for themselves and others.

Developing awareness and understanding of behaviours that enhance mental health and wellbeing supports children and young people to make decisions and take action that leads to positive outcomes for themselves and their community.

 

Taking a strengths-based approach focuses on personal skills and community resources that can build students’ agency in various health and movement contexts. It recognises that the skills, resources and capacities each student has available to them will differ immensely. However, all students, no matter what their background or life situation, have capacities that can be drawn on to support them to make healthy, safe and active choices.

 

When students are empowered to use their current knowledge and skills, they are supported to apply healthy thinking habits and build resilience across different situations. Students can respond to adversity, manage healthy risk-taking, and develop agency and autonomy in their decision-making and health behaviours.

 

Through the Australian Curriculum, students develop their ability to access, understand, interrogate and use health information and services to promote their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing. Students investigate behaviours that contribute positively to their own wellbeing. They enhance their capacity to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing by developing plans to establish healthy habits for themselves and others, including:

  • understanding the importance of connection and belonging with others
  • valuing diversity and promoting inclusion
  • understanding the benefits of physical activity
  • following physical activity and screen-usage recommendations in the Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Young People
  • understanding the value of quality sleep
  • exploring the benefits of eating patterns that reflect The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
  • exploring how kinship and extended family structures in First Nations Australian communities support and enhance the health, safety and wellbeing of their communities.
Teacher resources

Several organisations provide a range of evidence-based programs and tools to support the delivery of the Australian Curriculum and develop a comprehensive whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.

 

These resources have been categorised below for your convenience.

F–10 and whole-school resources

 

Australian Government – Bullying No Way

https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

 

Australian Government - Consent can’t wait

https://www.consent.gov.au/

 

Be You resources 

 

e-Safety Commissioner resources

 

Our Watch Respectful Relationships Education website

https://education.ourwatch.org.au/

 

Our Watch Respectful Relationships Education Toolkit

https://education.ourwatch.org.au/resource/respectful-relationships-education-toolkit/

 

Smiling Mind Education

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/mental-health-resilience-training-teachers-schools

 

Reconciliation Australia - Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education 

https://www.reconciliation.org.au/our-work/narragunnawali/

 

Student Wellbeing Hub – Resources to build safe, inclusive and connected school communities

https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/

 

Secondary and whole-school resources

 

Black Dog Institute – Schools: information and resources to create mentally healthy schools

https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/education-services/schools/

 

Headspace – information for educators

https://headspace.org.au/professionals-and-educators/educators/programs-in-schools/

 

ReachOut whole-school approach to student wellbeing

https://schools.au.reachout.com/

13 Yarn

https://www.13yarn.org.au/

 

Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) 

https://www.accce.gov.au/resources/for-parents-and-carers

 

Beyond Blue – Issues for young people

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/young-people

 

Emerging minds

https://emergingminds.com.au/

 

Headspace

https://headspace.org.au/

 

Kids Helpline

 

Raising Children

https://raisingchildren.net.au/

 

ReachOut

https://au.reachout.com/

 

Respect

https://www.respect.gov.au/

 

Smiling Mind

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

 

Stars Foundation – Empowering Indigenous young women

https://starsfoundation.org.au/

 

Thinkuknow

http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate: Health and Wellbeing

https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/Our-Curriculum/health-and-wellbeing

 

New South Wales Department of Education: Mental health resources

https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/counselling-and-psychology-services/teachers#Mental3

 

Northern Territory Department of Education: NT Social and Emotional Learning

https://education.nt.gov.au/support-for-teachers/nt-social-and-emotional-learning

 

Queensland Department of Education: Supporting students’ wellbeing and mental health

https://education.qld.gov.au/students/student-health-safety-wellbeing/student-wellbeing

 

Department for Education South Australia: Health, safety and wellbeing

https://www.education.sa.gov.au/schools-and-educators/health-safety-and-wellbeing

 

Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People: Respectful Relationships Education, Bullying Stops Here

https://respectfulrelationships.education.tas.gov.au/

 

Department of Education and Training Victoria: Resilience, Rights and Respectful relationships

https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/ResourcePackage/LandingPage?ObjectId=0249f9d6-e536-4122-9298-dbd3d6b29808&Check=1

 

Western Australia Department of Education: Student health and wellbeing

https://www.education.wa.edu.au/student-health-and-wellbeing

Considerations
Safe and supportive school environments

 

Teaching about mental health and wellbeing requires intentional planning and explicit teaching to help educators create safe and inclusive learning environments. It is important that questions can be asked, and ideas and opinions can be shared and discussed without fear of judgement or silencing. Setting classroom agreements about active listening and using respectful language can help to create a safe and respectful learning environment.

 

Reflecting on mental health and wellbeing can be personally challenging and may evoke feelings of distress in some teachers and students. It is important to respect students’ right to not engage in discussions. Schools will have policies and procedures in place to support students and educators when dealing with sensitive issues. It is important that schools make use of their school referral processes, and are aware of mandatory reporting requirements and legal procedures for dealing with disclosures.

Curriculum links

This section will demonstrate where across the 3 dimensions of the curriculum (learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities) you will find content links to mental health and wellbeing.

 
An overview of mental health and wellbeing education in the Australian Curriculum learning areas

 

Health and Physical Education

 

The Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education is the main curriculum context for addressing mental health and wellbeing. Content about mental health and wellbeing is addressed through the focus area Mental health and wellbeing in 2 strands:

  • Personal, social and community health
  • Movement and physical activity.

 

This focus area addresses how mental health and wellbeing can be enhanced and strengthened at an individual and community level. The content teaches students to maintain and enhance their own mental health and wellbeing, and to support that of others.

 

It is expected that all students at appropriate times across the continuum of learning from Foundation to Year 10 will learn about:

  • identity and belonging
  • emotional awareness
  • emotional regulation
  • mental health promotion
  • strategies for enhancing mental health and wellbeing, including perseverance, adaptability, positive self-talk, mindfulness, meditation, connecting with others
  • destigmatising mental illness in the community
  • the impact of physical, social, spiritual and emotional health on wellbeing
  • body image and self-worth, and their impact on mental health and wellbeing
  • resilience and skills that support resilient behaviour
  • coping skills, help-seeking strategies and community support resources
  • networks of support for promoting mental health and wellbeing
  • critiquing health information.

 

Digital Technologies, English, Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), and The Arts also provide opportunities to build upon and reinforce this learning. For other learning areas, the skills and behaviours for mental health and wellbeing education are often addressed more holistically through everyday routines, habits, and integrated planning and programming.

The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies provides opportunities for students to develop skills that support individual and community mental health and wellbeing. They develop the ability to respectfully collaborate and communicate ideas and information, negotiate roles and responsibilities, and effectively manage their personal data. Understanding how digital systems work allows students to better use security, health and wellbeing settings when using digital tools.

 

Digital Technologies helps students to understand and practise using digital tools to be safe, respectful, healthy and resilient members of the community.

The Australian Curriculum: English provides opportunities for students to analyse, understand, communicate and build relationships with others and the world around them. They learn how language enables people to interact effectively, establish and maintain respectful relationships, and express and exchange knowledge, skills, attitudes, emotions and opinions. Students learn to adapt language to meet the demands of a range of health, safety and wellbeing contexts. They learn about the different ways in which knowledge and opinion are represented and developed in various forms of communication. The English learning area helps students become ethical, informed, perceptive, innovative and active members of society.

The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences provides opportunities for students to develop a deep understanding of their world, past and present. They understand the factors that shape personal and shared identity, and the diversity of Australia. Students examine connections people make with other individuals, groups, places, systems, beliefs, values and ideas, how these connections impact each other and how they may change over time. They explore their perspectives as well as those of others, demonstrating respect for diversity and the human rights of all people.

The Australian Curriculum: The Arts provides opportunities for students to develop, create and share stories, ideas, knowledge and understanding. They grow in their understanding of self and others as they make sense of, interpret and respond to their real and imagined worlds. Through all 5 Arts subjects, students respond, practise, create and perform to communicate meaningful ideas, all of which can support and enhance personal and individual health and wellbeing.

An overview of mental health and wellbeing in the general capabilities

 

The Curriculum connection: Mental health and wellbeing provides opportunities to address aspects of a range of general capabilities, with a particular emphasis on Personal and Social capability, Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding, Digital Literacy, and Critical and Creative Thinking.

 

In the Australian Curriculum, the general capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills and behaviours that will help students to live and work successfully in a diverse and changing world. The following information provides an overview of how mental health and wellbeing can be approached through the general capabilities.

The Personal and Social capability outlines specific behaviours and skills that will support students to understand themselves, manage their thoughts, emotions and behaviours, and develop respectful relationships. As students develop these behaviours, they will learn to regulate their emotions, reflect upon experiences, relate to others with empathy and understanding, collaborate effectively in diverse groups and respectfully value the contributions of others across a range of relationships and interactions.

The Ethical Understanding capability outlines specific behaviours and skills that students need to build a strong ethical outlook. As students develop these behaviours, they gain awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others, explore ethical issues and interactions, respectfully discuss ideas and learn to be accountable members of the community.

The Intercultural Understanding capability outlines specific behaviours and skills that students need to understand what happens and what to do when cultures intersect. As students develop these behaviours, they build capacity to reflect on culture and cultural diversity, engage with cultural and linguistic diversity, respond to bias and prejudice, and navigate intercultural contexts with empathy and respect.

The Digital Literacy capability outlines specific behaviours and skills that students need as they engage with information and other people in an increasing globalised and connected world. As students develop these behaviours, they build capacity to access information and services, identify the benefits and risks of digital participation in relation to health and wellbeing outcomes, and to manage themselves in safe and respectful ways in online environments.

The Critical and Creative Thinking capability outlines specific behaviours and skills that students need to evaluate information, generate solutions and reflect on factors that influence their mental health and wellbeing. As students develop these behaviours, they build capacity to interpret concepts, consider alternatives and justify conclusions when making decisions about their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing.

An overview of mental health and wellbeing in the cross-curriculum priorities

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
 

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority provides opportunities for all students to deepen their knowledge of Australia by learning about the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. Students learn about Australian First Nations Peoples’ living communities and identities through the 3 interconnected aspects of Country/Place, Culture and People.

 

Students learn about Australian First Nations Peoples’ special connection to Country/Place and celebrate the unique belief systems that connect them physically and spiritually to Country/Place.

 

They learn about First Nation Australians’ unique ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing. Students engage with Australian First Nations Peoples’ knowledges, experiences, values and perspectives.

 

They also learn about First Nations Australians’ sophisticated political, economic and social organisation systems, which include family and kinship structures, laws, traditions, customs, land tenure systems, and protocols for strong governance and authority.

 

Students investigate strategies that apply and promote respectful and culturally responsive language and truth-telling. They build cultural awareness to develop empathy and respectful relationships.

 

Mental health and wellbeing for students at different band levels

Students' sense of self is developing. They can describe their world outside of school, their understandings and ideas about that world, and their place in it. Their awareness of what makes them similar and different to others is growing. Students are developing their ability to interact with care, empathy and respect. They can recognise their emotions and factors that influence their health and safety. They can identify people who can support them when they need help. Students learn to describe activities they enjoy and that positively influence their health, including different types of physical activity.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

Students begin to participate more broadly in everyday life as they develop individual interests and further establish their own identities. They identify personal strengths that contribute to a strong sense of self and begin to understand respect for diversity and other people’s perspectives. Students further develop their social skills to interact in an inclusive and cooperative manner, as well as their ability to express and regulate their emotions. These skills support students to engage in and persist with a range of classroom and social activities. Students are developing their ability to make decisions about their health. They actively apply protective and help-seeking strategies to maintain their own safety. Students can identify simple messages from different forms of communication, including those related to their health. They continue to develop positive attitudes towards activities they enjoy, including physical activities.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

Students develop their understanding of how peers, their family and others, and the changing world influence their identities and their wellbeing. They develop a range of ways to establish and maintain respectful relationships in online and offline environments, while valuing diversity and learning to respond to change. Students develop an increasing awareness of how language can impact relationships and the messages they access and understand. They further develop understanding of factors that influence their health and safety by learning to analyse and interpret a range of health messages. Students explore strategies to manage challenging and unsafe situations as well as the benefits of activities that meet their needs and interests.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

Students are developing a strong sense of who they are and where they fit in the world. They identify factors and strengths that make them feel good about themselves. Students learn to celebrate their own unique qualities, to value the diversity of their community and strategies to challenge stereotypes. They further develop understanding of how others can influence their beliefs, decisions and behaviours. Students develop awareness of a broader range of personal, social, environmental and economic factors that influence their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing. Students learn the skills to critique information and the messages provided through the media, online and in their community to develop healthy habits.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

Students reflect on the factors that influence their perception of themselves and develop the skills to respond to a range of situations. They develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to respectfully manage online and offline relationships, and support the rights and feelings of others, including people and groups to which they belong. Students develop and apply strategies they can use to be resilient during times of change and challenge. They investigate health issues relevant to them and explore options to maintain the health and safety of themselves and others. Through refined communication skills, students can seek and access help to address concerns and feelings. Students develop plans to enhance their own health and wellbeing by managing habits related to physical activity, food and nutrition, screen usage, sleep and connection to others.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

Students explore how societal attitudes and values develop and reinforce stereotypes, and how these influence individual and group identities. They analyse how these attitudes can influence their health behaviours and those of the groups they belong to. Students practise taking positive action to demonstrate respect, fairness and equity, and to value and celebrate diversity in their community. They develop skills to respectfully manage relationships and to cope as relationships change over time. Students understand how empathy, ethical decision-making and personal safety influence respectful relationships. They recognise and use family, school, online and community resources to seek help for themselves and others when necessary. Students apply their knowledge and understanding in a range of contexts to make informed decisions about their own health and wellbeing. They learn to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate health programs to enhance their own and others’ wellbeing, including outdoor recreational activities in their local community.

 

Supporting documentation

Mapped content descriptions for all key aspects

View Curriculum connections