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Place2Be partners with the University of Stirling to help student teachers create mentally healthy classrooms

Place2Be and the University of Stirling have announced a new partnership which will help student teachers learn about and support mentally healthy classrooms and schools.

Three university students sitting together looking at a textbook and making notes. They are sitting in a library,The partnership, announced this week, will see a Place2Be clinician working with students to equip them as they begin their career in teaching.  

Place2Be Clinician Aisling Vorster will help student teachers develop their capacity for wellbeing and reflection, and to support children and young people’s mental health in the classroom. Over the duration of their studies, Aisling will help student teachers to understand the communication underlying young people’s behaviours and responses, and to manage the challenges of a classroom, ultimately working towards mentally healthy teachers and classrooms.   

It’s important that teachers learn how to support young people’s mental health at the earliest opportunity, and having Place2Be and its concepts embedded in the University of Stirling makes this part of their learning from the outset. Having worked in this area in schools, I am delighted to be bringing my expertise to the University of Stirling’s teacher education programme in partnership with schools. Aisling Vorster, Place2Be Clinician at the University of Stirling

The programme features Place2Think sessions, offering a unique reflective space for student teachers to consider the impact of their pupils' mental health and wellbeing on their teaching practice. This allows students to build both their skills as a teacher and their own emotional and professional resilience, preparing them for a career in the classroom.

The University of Stirling’s undergraduate teaching programme has around 800 students across primary, secondary and physical education pathways.

This partnership grows on Place2Be’s work with student teachers at the University of Glasgow and Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, meaning that Place2Be is now supporting a third of all student teachers in Scotland. 

We are delighted to be working with Place2Be on this important initiative. The wellbeing of teachers is an important priority for the University of Stirling, and adding Aisling’s expertise makes absolute sense. Brian Johnston, Director of Initial Teacher Education at the University of Stirling
We are delighted to partner with the University of Stirling, which will mean that a third of all student teachers in Scotland will now be supported by an embedded Place2Be clinician. This partnership is about valuing teachers and their vital contribution to the lives of children across Scotland.  Supporting teachers of the future to contribute to mentally healthy school communities by seeing mental health as the responsibility of all, is at the heart of our partnership with the University of Stirling. Working together with Stirling and other Initial Teacher Education institutions, we have been able to developed a proactive approach to support and build the capacity of student teachers, in line with Place2Be’s focus on prevention and early help and support intervention. Fiona McFarlane, Director for Scotland with Place2Be

Learn more about Place2Be’s work in Scotland 

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