Is there space to support children's socio-emotional wellbeing in primary school?

: Confronting a three headed monster of competing discourses regarding the role of the primary school teacher.

Abstract

This thesis discusses whether there is space to support socio-emotional wellbeing in primary school in England amid competing discourses regarding their role in the current educational ecology. Discourses this study conceptualises as a three headed monster with a socio-emotional wellbeing head; a behaviour management and discipline head; and an academic outcomes and targets head. This is discussed in the context of an increasing call for schools to support children with their mental health and wellbeing whilst at the same time being under pressure to improve academic outcomes and discipline.

This research conducted in England combines a top-down and bottom-up approach and as such there were two parts to the data collection. An analysis of 31 policy documents was conducted using discourse analysis as a tool to examine how wellbeing and the teachers’ role is constructed in policy. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 10 primary school teachers from three different primary schools, exploring how they understand their role and conceptualise their professional identity. The top-down and bottom-up approach provided an interesting space for analysis, within and between both sets of data.

The findings suggest that the teachers understand their role more broadly than how it is constructed in policy. They also had a broader understanding of wellbeing. The findings suggests that the tensions the teachers experienced were predominantly with the discourses of the academic outcomes and targets head of the monster. They also suggest that they are constrained by the current educational ecology. The teachers proposed a number of different changes that they thought might help with the tensions and pressures they experienced.

This research proposes a different ecology of education that incorporates a holistic ethos that supports the development of the whole child and positions the three aspects of the teachers’ role as interconnected and aligned. Consequently, it proposes a unified mindset, a different teaching discourse, that incorporates the three roles, the three heads of the monster, into one holistic structure. This does not compromise academic achievement as by supporting the children’s holistic development and wellbeing it also supports their learning.

Date of Award	2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Canterbury Christ Church University