Government guidance in 2008 endorsed the "Targeting Mental Health in Schools" (TaMHS) agenda, which sets out to promote mental health in schools through the delivery of universal and targeted interventions. This paper initially defines mental health and outlines the TaMHS initiative. It then offers empirical findings from four focus…

Research suggests motivational interviewing (MI) techniques are both widely-used by educational psychologists (EPs) and effective in supporting young people of secondary age. To date, there has been no published research investigating the use of MI with primary-aged children. This study details the use of a short MI-based intervention with a…

The current study was primarily aimed at verifying the effect of a combined computer-assisted and pencil-and-paper training that was developed to empower visuo-spatial abilities in primary school pupils. One hundred and twenty third grade (mean average: eight years old) and fourth grade (mean age: nine years old) students attending several Italian…

Despite the wide implications of attachment theory there remains a lack of research exploring interventions which encapsulate the principles of an attachment-based framework in the school context. The aim of this research was to address this gap by implementing an intervention for a group of five primary-aged pupils with identified insecure…

Studies examining the well-being of British children find that about 5-10% are at risk of developing problems. This study aimed to examine the emotional and behavioural development of six to eight year olds in an area of socio-economic deprivation in Glasgow (Scotland) and compare this with UK norms. Furthermore, it aimed to look at overlap…

This action research project considered whether significant improvements in child and young person behavioural and emotional mental health could be achieved using school-based play workers as opposed to qualified therapists. This was seen as being an important practice question as access to qualified play therapists was severely restricted with…

There has been a noted growth in the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in mainstream schools. Research is inconclusive about their efficacy at changing outcomes for children and has proposed more training for TAs. Generic training models have suggested that enhancing self-efficacy in turn improves performance. This exploratory study investigated…

Being in a Service family can be a difficult position for children and parents alike due to high levels of mobility, parental separation, and the remaining parent's stress and emotional well-being. A Service family is defined as a family with one or both parents employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The current project looked at the…

This paper reports the results of research into parental experiences of the Somerset (UK) "Time Together" home visiting intervention, with regards to its impact on the parent-child relationship. The research was carried out using an Attachment Theory lens in order to understand the qualitative experiences of seven parents of children in…

Consultation is a key means of service delivery in many psychological services. However, the "process" of consultation is little explored in Educational Psychology literature, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK). This paper focuses on a small-scale qualitative research study of psychological consultation provided by educational…

This paper looks at current research into how thinking influences learning. How people explain to themselves "why" they fail and succeed inevitably impacts on how well they learn new skills. Researchers have been developing attribution retraining programmes targeted at improving student academic achievement and learning experience…

The research was designed to add to the UK-based literature around the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum, a whole school emotional literacy and social competence intervention. Seven semi-structured interviews were carried out with class teachers and pastoral leads. Questionnaires were designed to explore a number of…

An intervention was carried out with primary school staff to promote well-being with weekly sessions of a project which became known as Chill and Chat. Data were gathered via questionnaires completed before and after the project and from three focus groups (before, during and after the intervention), and were analysed using thematic analysis.…

According to student surveys conducted cross-nationally, a substantial proportion of students continue to be bullied at school after they have sought help from teachers. This article examines a range of strategies that teachers employ in dealing with bully/victim cases. The most commonly used strategy is Direct Sanctions: the imposition of…

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a multimodal and information technology (IT)-delivered intervention for test anxiety. Participants were randomly allocated to an intervention or waiting list group. Test anxiety was measured pre- and post-intervention and academic buoyancy, a construct that refers to students' capacity to withstand…