Pay more attention to performance pressure among students

The Platform for the Perspective of Young People (PPJ) is an independent committee consisting of teachers, students and other education experts. The committee was established by the government to monitor the expenditure and effects of the National Education Programme.

In the letter, the committee observes that many students suffer from anxiety and stress, which has a negative effect on their academic success and life satisfaction. More than half of students experience mild to moderate psychological problems, and more than 10 percent have severe psychological problems.

Students are critical

Although educational institutions are doing increasingly more to improve students' mental well-being, it appears that students often do not experience any additional attention being paid to mental health care. In addition, students are critical of the effectiveness of certain initiatives because they are too fragmented and therefore do not always reach the most vulnerable students. Farid Tabarki, chair of the PPJ committee, says: “Educational institutions are struggling with the approach to students' mental well-being. It is difficult to establish a structural approach using temporary budgets. Mental well-being issues are complex, including outside education. Students often find the existing support difficult to locate and fragmented.”

Recommendations from the PPJ

In the advisory letter, the PPJ shares several recommendations for improving students' mental well-being. Maintain a sustained focus on increasing performance pressure, such as by providing structural funding for mental well-being programmes and researching their effectiveness. In addition, focus more on prevention, for example by giving mental well-being a permanent role within the curriculum. If teachers report warning signs at an early stage, this can prevent escalation.

Young people's mental well-being is linked to their financial health and their position in the labour market and housing market. The committee therefore considers it crucial that both the national government and local authorities address mental health problems among young people in an integrated manner across different policy areas.