Because I wish to make these animations available as school resources, I first need to see what is already accessible to my target audience. To discover this I will look into the national curriculum to understand what is being taught to my target audience in school, as well as look at external resources such as BBC bitesize to learn if there are any resources already covering mental health and wellbeing.
National curriculum for Key stage 1 and 2
Compulsory national curriculum subjects at primary school are:
- English
- Maths
- Science
- Design and technology
- History
- Geography
- Art and design
- Music
- Physical education (including swimming0
- Computing
- Ancient and modern foreign languages (at key stage 2)
- Religious education
Schools often also tech
- Personal, social and health education (PSHE)
- Citizenship
- Modern foreign languages (at key stage 1)
As is shown in the compulsory subjects taught in primary schools, mental health or wellbeing is not one of the subjects covered. However, in the section detailing what schools also tend to cover along side the compulsory subjects there is the subject of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) which is most likely where the topics of mental health and wellbeing would be covered if schools chose to teach those topics, although I can’t say for certain. While looking into the national has given me some insight into what is taught in primary education, it’s still fairly ambiguous whether or not the subjects of mental health and wellbeing are covered in primary schools or not.
BBC Bitesize
BBC Bitesize is an external learning resource for children to use when studying. The site is divided into the different key stages so that children can access learning resources at the appropriate learning level for them. Below is the list of subjects that a key stage 2 student may be studying and can find resources for. As is shown in the image below, there is not specific section on mental health, however, there is a section for PSHE, which is most likely where any resources on mental health and wellbeing would be if this sites has any at all.
After selecting the subject PSHE and Citizenship, you are then brought to this page where the topics are self, relationships, health and safety and community. Again there are no particular topic which seem to cover mental health, with the closest being ‘Emotional wellbeing’ under the topic of self. Within this topic there is not much coverage on mental health, instead the videos cover the topics of anger, what it’s like to live with various illnesses and allergies, and what it is like to be the new child in class. While all these are very important topics, it is a little disappointing that there is not more coverage on mental health.
Resources available on BBC Teach
The next external learning resource site I looked into was BBC Teach which provides classroom resources for students. Just like with BBC Bitesize, the resources are split into key stages with various resources for the different subjects of the curriculum.
After clicking on the subject PSHE I came across a lot more resources that had links to mental health than I did when looking on the BBC Bitesize website. Below are some videos available to key stage 2 children on mental health issues from the perspective of a young person. While these clips are great in highlighting some of the mental illnesses in society, however, there seem to be no clips that explain what mental health actually is to children, only what mental illnesses are.
I think these clips on mental illnesses are presented for key stage 2 children in a very informative yet child friendly way. The videos are narrated by children who have a mental illness and talk about their experience with coping with the condition. The animations highlight the children narration in a way that does not mock or undermine the seriousness of the topics being discussed. The animation style and colour scheme used to the videos is very fitting in illustrating the children stories but not drawing too much attention away from what is being said in the video.
Underneath each of the videos as talking points which teachers could ask after showing the video to the class. These talking points allow for children to open up and potentially discuss what they have just watched and ask questions about mental illness and how to help someone with mental illness.
Below are some more resources from BBC Teach which cover the topic of growth mindset, and how to develop a positive mindset.
After watching these videos I was a little disappointed that it didn’t cover more about mental health. These collection of videos basically cover how it is good to have a positive mindset and how to obtain that. Again I think that the animation style and the way the topic was discussed was in a child appropriate manner, and has given me a lot to think about where the presentation of my mental health animations are concerned.
While this has helped me to understand what is taught in the curriculum for primary school children, and the resources that are available externally to children on the topic of mental health, I still don’t know if mental health is talked about in schools, or if the children even access these external sources. Because of this I plan to interview a primary school teacher in order to gain more of an understanding on if the topic of mental health is ever discussed with children in primary school, and if my project of creating mental health animations that could be shown to primary school children to educate them on the subject would even be appropriate or useful.
Bibliography
BBC Bitesize (2021) Key stage 2 PSHE and Citizenship. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zqtnvcw. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
BBC Teach (2021) PSHE KS2 / KS3: When I Worry About Things. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/pshe-ks2–ks3-when-i-worry-about-things/z7jyd6f. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
BBC Teach (2021) PSHE KS2: Growth Mindset. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/pshe-ks2-growth-mindset/zkph92p. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
Government (2021) The National Curriculum. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-1-and-2. [Accessed 8 March 2021]