Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Disability and education in historical perspective
- 2 Continuity and tensions between the SEND framework and disability rights legislation in recent legislative reforms
- 3 Multi-agency working and children and young people with disabilities: from ‘what works’ to ‘active becoming’
- 4 Disabled students in higher education: what progress has been made over the last 30 years?
- 5 Meeting the standard but failing the test: the case of children and young people with sensory impairments and access to assessments and qualifications
- 6 Exploring the intersection of race and disability in English schools
- 7 The hidden world of within-school exclusion
- 8 Social, emotional and mental health needs in educational settings: putting wellbeing into socio-relational context
- Conclusion
- Index
8 - Social, emotional and mental health needs in educational settings: putting wellbeing into socio-relational context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 September 2025
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Disability and education in historical perspective
- 2 Continuity and tensions between the SEND framework and disability rights legislation in recent legislative reforms
- 3 Multi-agency working and children and young people with disabilities: from ‘what works’ to ‘active becoming’
- 4 Disabled students in higher education: what progress has been made over the last 30 years?
- 5 Meeting the standard but failing the test: the case of children and young people with sensory impairments and access to assessments and qualifications
- 6 Exploring the intersection of race and disability in English schools
- 7 The hidden world of within-school exclusion
- 8 Social, emotional and mental health needs in educational settings: putting wellbeing into socio-relational context
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
One of the key ‘areas of need’ identified in the 2001 Special Educational Needs Code of Practice1 was ‘behaviour, emotional and social development’ (hereafter BESD), which was operationalised as follows: ‘Children and young people who demonstrate features of emotional and behavioural difficulties, who are withdrawn or isolated, disruptive and disturbing, hyperactive and lack concentration; those with immature social skills; and those presenting challenging behaviours arising from other complex special needs’ (p 87).
This was replaced in the 2015 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice2 with some subtle but important differences in wording. The area of need was now worded as ‘Social, emotional and mental health difficulties’ (hereafter SEMH), and operationalised as follows:
Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder. (p 98)
Of particular note is the way in which ‘mental health’ has been headlined as a core part of one primary area of need within the 2015 code of practice, whereas in 2001 those words only appeared in the context of noting the potential link between special educational needs and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
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- Education, Disability and Social Policy , pp. 142 - 153Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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