How are schools supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing? Insights from a statewide survey of Victorian primary school staff

Primary schools are an important setting for promoting children's mental health and wellbeing and delivering early intervention. This study surveyed primary school staff across Victoria, Australia (n = 211) in 2020 to examine the prioritisation of, approaches to, and barriers to mental health and wellbeing support in these settings. The survey was distributed to Victorian government primary schools and captured perspectives from leadership, educators, and wellbeing staff across metropolitan, regional, and rural settings. Student mental health and wellbeing were rated as a high priority by most staff (72%); however, only 39% felt that their school was doing enough in this area. Staff reported a range of activities spanning universal, targeted, and individualised interventions. Differences by staff role were observed, with leadership staff reporting stronger prioritisation of whole-school and proactive promotion approaches, and non-leadership staff more frequently identifying external barriers such as stigma and language or cultural barriers. Barriers also varied by geographic location, with access to specialist services identified as a more significant barrier in regional and rural schools. These findings provide a pre-reform baseline of school staff perspectives and highlight the need for implementation strategies that build workforce capability, account for role-specific perspectives, and are responsive to local school contexts. This manuscript is a preprint, and is currently under review with The Australian Educational Researcher.