Barriers to Education
What are Barriers to Education?
School or college can be a great experience, but it can also be stressful. Many young people can feel anxious about school or college for lots of different reasons – such as being worried about making friends or fitting in, finding lessons confusing, feeling pressured to learn in a certain way or finding relationships with teachers difficult. There might be certain pressure points during your time in education – for example, during exam period, returning to school after time off, or transition, that can add further challenges.
For some young people, the school/college environment can be particularly difficult and trying to fit into it can create a huge amount of stress. This stress may impact on your ability to attend your school or college.
There has been a significant increase in young people struggling to attend school since Covid (though it was increasing before Covid, just at a slower pace). School attendance difficulties are experienced disproportionately by certain groups – for example, young people experiencing poverty or discrimination, on an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or with Special Educational Needs; young people already experiencing mental health difficulties, and neurodivergent young people.
How you are managing in school or college might also be related to difficult experiences at home, for example, bereavement, an illness in the family or being a young carer.
Research tells us that young people do want to attend school or college but say that school-based factors such as difficult peer group relationships, difficulty learning, lack of staff support and negative experiences of transition has resulted in barriers to attending.
You might be experiencing significant barriers to education if you:
- Have learning needs that are unsupported
- Are experiencing friendship issues or bullying
- Do not have positive relationships with any teachers or school staff
- Have had previous negative experiences of school
- Have other family members who have struggled to attend school
- Worry about your family if you are not with them
- Are experiencing mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression
- Find change (such as moving from primary to secondary school) difficult
You may also have additional worries by not attending school. You may worry about:
- A parent/carer having to give up work and the impact of this on your family
- Your parents/carers feeling upset/anxious and feeling you are to blame
- Your parent/carer going to prison
Here are some of the symptoms you may experience if you are facing barriers to attending education:
- You may struggle to get out of bed, leave the house and get out of the car/or the bus.
- You may struggle to control your emotions, especially on Sunday nights and at the end of the holidays, e.g., crying, withdrawn, shouting and breaking things.
- You may feel unwell e.g., headaches, feeling sick (symptoms caused by a lot of anxiety).
- You may become very quiet in school and not wish to join in in class/activities or you may struggle to with your behaviour in school.
- You may not look forward to school, and might avoid talking about school or talk about it negatively at home
- You may notice a change in your sleep or appetite
- You may no longer enjoy the things you used to enjoy doing
- You may start being late to school and/or miss certain days.
- You may not go to school at all.
Related to Barriers to Education
Advice to help me
If you are struggling to attend school or college, or are experiencing particular challenges in your education, you might find the following advice helpful:
If you feel that you are struggling with things, speak to a trusted adult as soon as you can so that they can offer support to help ease your stress and anxiety.
Try put some things in place to support you to manage a school/college day. For example, use your planner to jot down your schedule and the tasks you are expected to complete day by day could help you stay focused and organise your thoughts; finding a quiet place to eat your lunch could help you get ready for the afternoon; having a fidget toy in your pocket may help you stay focused in class and getting into school/college early could help you avoid the crowds.
Include things that can help you relieve stress into your daily routine. This might include doing things you enjoy, spending time with friends and family or getting creative. You could get some ideas from this self-care resource.
Try to get enough sleep and are eat well.
Be kind to yourself. Become aware of any negative thoughts and practice challenging them (for example, ask yourself what would you say to a friend who was thinking this negative thought? What is the evidence to back up your negative thought?). Try and catch yourself if you are comparing yourself unfavourably to others and remember to recognise your achievements.
Tap into your support network. This could include your family, friends, on line support or supporters in school/college.
Consider what help would be useful to make school/college more bearable – would it be having a safe space to go to if you are feeling overwhelmed, having someone checking in with you, a different seating arrangement, a toilet pass? Could you, or an advocate for you, arrange these adaptations?
If you have exams approaching, remember that your grades don’t define you. Check out these hints and tips to manage exam pressure.
Consider what support you might need if you are due to transition into a new school or college, or new class. Do you need extra visits, to meet your new teacher, a map of the building? This short video gives some useful advice on how to deal with anxiety caused by change.
Who can help me?
Accessing support in your local area, or on-line, may be useful if you are experiencing mental health difficulties that are having mild or moderate impact on your daily life . Based on your symptoms, age and where you live, the support below might be useful for you:
Thrive hubs can help you understand your options.
Our service is designed to advise, guide, signpost and get help for young people within Manchester currently facing mental health and emotional wellbeing issues.
Learn more about Thrive HubsFor young people looking for emotional wellbeing support, this website offers a range of information and services, including counselling, psycho-social support, and cognitive behavioural therapy.
An on-line resource with lots of advice and information for young people.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Manchester, including primary and secondary schools and colleges
Offering counselling support for young people with anxiety, depression, anger, difficult life experiences, panic attacks, struggling to cope, low self-esteem, hearing voices, unwanted thoughts or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Offering a 10-week Junior Physical Activity Referral Service (PARS) Their Children’s Healthy Lifestyle Practitioners will connect families to fun activities in your local area.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Salford, including primary and secondary schools and colleges.
Stop.Breathe.Think is a mental health charity offering online counselling to those aged 8-21, who cannot afford or access support quickly. No wait times and available nationally, we provide vital support to those who need it right now.
A mental health charity offering online counselling to those aged 8-21, who cannot afford or access support quickly. No wait times and available nationally, we provide vital support to those who need it right now.
Offering a variety of resources to encourage healthy relationships between a child and their parent is suitable when a young person would like to or would benefit from developing a better understanding of safe, happy, and healthy relationships.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Trafford, including primary and secondary schools and colleges.
Trafford Youth Engagement team delivers a number of services from our Talkshop base in Sale. Talkshop is an advice, support and information centre for young people aged 11 to 19 (up to 25 with additional needs or care leavers).
CAMHS Services
A referral to a CAMHS service might be useful if you are experiencing mental health difficulties that are having a significant impact on your daily life. Based on your age, symptoms and where you live, the following services might be appropriate for you:
The Manchester CAMHS team for Looked After Children is a CAMHS team for children and young people cared for by Manchester City Council.
The Paediatric Psychosocial Service (PPS) is a specialist CAMHS team (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, for children who are being treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. By providing psychological and psychiatric assessment and treatment for patients who have emotional and mental health problems related to their underlying physical illness.
The Tertiary Paediatric Fatigue Team is a team made up of different professionals who can support you to manage fatigue. The team can provide you with help to manage your symptoms and find strategies to manage your day-to-day life. We support you with conditions such as ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and Post-covid Syndrome (Long Covid). The service provided is based on NICE Guidance- this is to make sure treatments are safe, effective and based on research. You will receive medical reviews based on your needs at that time, while taking steps towards feeling better.
We are a specific CAMHS team for young people who may have been involved in the youth justice system. We are based within Manchester Youth Justice supporting Children who may be on a statutory court order or on intensive supervision.