ALL our children at risk. It is understandable that efforts are focussed on the most vulnerable but we must be vigilant in ensuring the wellbeing of all island children. Complacency is the door through which dangers enter and it is the responsibility of all, including every States department, to be vigilant. And perhaps the greatest danger to our children is the Trojan horse that lies within.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is perceived as the international benchmark of academic prowess. Its effect on education systems around the world has been significant. But PISA has recently released another set of data, one based on child ‘wellbeing’. It is no coincidence that countries which top the PISA academic league tables (China, South Korea et al) are to be found at the bottom of the PISA wellbeing table. The exceptions are Finland and the Netherlands, countries with education systems that put pupil wellbeing first yet still excel academically. Countries that have sought to emulate Far Eastern pedagogy – the UK, USA, Australia, and Jersey – are at the wrong end of both league tables!
We can reel out academic performance statistics but recent FoIs have identified that information relating to some medicinal drug use amongst children in the Island does not exist. Without such data we cannot plan future policy.
What we do know is that, in Jersey:
Referrals to CAMHS has increased by 19% over the last five years.
Use of anti-depressants has increased by 50% over the last five years.
One-third of all self-harming occurs under the age of 20.
One child presents at A&E every week as a failed suicide.
l73% of pupils with ADHD are medicated.
Children diagnosed with ADHD are given medication, principally, methylphenidate hydrochloride, commonly known as Ritalin. In the UK there has been a 41% increase between 1997 and 2012 of children medicated for ADHD, including children as young as three. In Jersey, data relating to children with ADHD is not held in an ‘accessible format’, so our children are left exposed to potential risk as a result of inadequate filing. What is the purpose of this mass medication? For most it is to make them compliant while in school.
The rise in the use of antidepressants is just as alarming. Jersey ‘does not hold’ information on the age of people given prescriptions for anti-depressants (once again, our children are left exposed) but we can get a good idea by looking at the UK, where prescriptions have increased by 50% for children. In the USA over two million children are prescribed antidepressants. In Australia the
use of antidepressants with children
has increased by a third. Antidepressants do not work as effectively in teenagers. Side effects include:
An increase in suicidal tendencies.
Greater anxiety and/or depression.
An increase in self-harming
Why are they taking antidepressants? Because many worry about their school performance.
Even the brightest students are not exempt. Students have long burned the midnight oil in preparation for an examination, drinking copious amounts of coffee to stave off tiredness. But today’s young go-getters have sourced a more powerful group of stimulants, ones guaranteed to keep them alert. They are called ‘nootropics’. These are the new legal ‘highs’. They are untested, dangerous when mixed with other medication and a gateway drug. It is the constant demand for perfection within the education system that is driving these children to drugs.
While schools may plead their innocence, the correlation between performance targets and deteriorating mental health is significant. Yes, there are many reasons why children suffer from mental health problems; however, schools should be islands of calm in this sea of societal turmoil, but they are not. Schooling in Jersey actively contributes to mental health problems by pressurising children to perform to computer-generated targets. They are educating a society to be hooked on prescription drugs.
The intoxication of infants and tranquilisation of teenagers is the legacy left behind for the new education administration to clear up. The wind of change will need to blow hard if it is to repair the damage done. What we require is clarity, not obfuscation. You can be as mindful as you like and have counsellors along every corridor but until the root cause is removed mental health issues will continue to rise. Wellbeing and not performance has to become the central pillar of our education system. Will that compromise results? It need not do so. Wales is the latest country to put child wellbeing at the forefront of education policy. So must Jersey.
Contact Colin at: behaviourinschools@gmail.com.
