In most educational institutions, online education used to be a small element of the entire offering, with most interaction taking place face to face in workshops, lecture theatres, classrooms and training centres. These physical settings offer opportunities for health and wellbeing through interactions with others, facilities such as sports halls, clubs and societies, and specialist health and counselling support. As more and more education takes place online, the need to support learners’ health and wellbeing becomes increasingly important. Increasingly, the identity of online educators includes a pastoral role.

This is particularly important because if you do an online search for phrases such as ‘student mental health’, ‘mental health in schools’ or ‘mental health in universities’, you won’t have to read too many results before you come across assertions that there’s a ‘crisis’ in student mental health.

While it’s not unusual to use dramatic language to make a point, when the same phrase is used time and time again, in different settings, by different organisations or individuals, there’s probably some justification for that language.

There’s abundant evidence that the word ‘crisis’ is entirely appropriate for describing what’s happening in schools, colleges, universities and other formal learning settings around the world. The problem increased during the pandemic. ‘On average 56% of university students worldwide said their mental health suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a survey of about 17,000 students in 21 countries’ (Kigotho, 2021).

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that

• Globally, one in seven 10- to 19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group.

• Depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents (WHO, 2021)

Although more recent surveys focused on the educational sector have shown a rise in student happiness, there are still very significant concerns about mental health and wellbeing:

In the US, 71% of students have experienced not sleeping enough, 68% have experienced daily feelings of anxiety, and 65% have experienced academic burnout. In the UK, 66% of students have experienced not sleeping enough, 62% have experienced daily feelings of anxiety, and 56% have experienced academic burnout (Global Student Survey quoted in MacGregor, 2023).

The terms ‘mental health’ and ‘wellbeing’ are often used interchangeably. ‘Wellbeing’ is a broad-ranging term that encompasses consideration of mental health.

The organisation Advance HE focuses on student wellbeing, rather than student mental health, in their report Embedding mental wellbeing in the curriculum: maximising success in higher education and gives this explanation:

We deliberately use the term ‘wellbeing’ rather than ‘mental health’, as not everyone who experiences a decline in their wellbeing would associate that with a ‘health’ concern. Moreover, we wish to draw a distinction between mental wellbeing, which we all have, and a mental health problem which only some of us would identify as experiencing. We see the two dimensions as independent: a person with a diagnosed major mental health problem may experience a subjectively high level of mental wellbeing. Conversely, someone who has never received a psychiatric diagnosis may experience poor levels of wellbeing (Houghton and Anderson, 2017, p. 7).

Wellbeing is often discussed in education in ‘pastoral’ terms, under a domain of student welfare or student support. It is much less well explored in terms of online learning, and you will look at some of these connections on the following steps.

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