Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper draws upon literature from critical psychology, mental health, and schooling to critique how children and young people’s “mental health” is currently constructed, presented, and practiced in relation to schooling in the UK. We look critically at the how policy has problematized mental health and argue that the mental health movement in contemporary schools can be seen to reflect an agenda related to the construction of neoliberal subjectivities and the governance of personhood in neoliberal society. Furthermore, we believe that it would be remiss not to take this opportunity to engage in open debate about the meaning of mental health in the context of schooling, carefully examining the possibility that educational policy may be as much a part of the problem as it is the solution and critically engaging with the meaning of mental health.