🤷♂️ What is SEMH? 🤷♀️
Social Emotion & Mental Health - Where did it come from and what does it mean?
📜 Where did it come from? 📜
SEMH - Social Emotional & Mental Health came into the world of education in September 2014 with the Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) Code of Practice: 0 - 25 Years.
Although the terminology has been around for over 10 years, I often find that people within education find the term confusing, which is not surprising. The term covers a wide range of needs and is sometimes mistakenly placed as the primary area of need for a young person as a ‘cover-all’ option.
To compound the confusion, there is often little to no training given to trainee teachers or other school staff about the term. When I completed my PGCE in 2016, SEN was an option module. SEMH & Trauma were not covered at all and there was little information provided about other needs such as Autism & ADHD. Granted, it is extremely hard to pack in all the relevant & important information into a year! Which is probably why it’s now changed! Although speaking to newly qualified teachers, SEMH is still not covered to a suitable standard, leaving teachers and other school staff in the land of myths and legends when it comes to understanding the need.
💡 What does it mean? 💡
For example, if a young person has SEMH needs, they can be placed on the SEN register under code K. However, within the last year alone, I have come across two SENCOs who did not know this and had not placed young people on the register to gain extra support.
There are also firmly traditional education professionals who believe SEMH is just poor behaviour which can immediately be solved by shouting at the young person or attempting to humiliate them in some way! The phrase Don’t smile until Christmas was frequently shared with me in my first year of teaching, from experienced members.
Through these writings/ramblings, I hope to explore the world of SEMH and other SEN needs within Education. If you find any of my posts interesting, please comment and share them!