Mainstream secondary schools are ill equipped to support young people with complex social and emotional challenges and could even be increasing the difficulties they face concludes new research led by Bristol University.

A critical finding from the research was that 38 per cent (116) of young people who did not gain any GCSE qualifications in Bristol in 2004, did however, achieve average or above average results in English, Mathematics or Science at Key Stage 2 at the end of their primary schooling. 

The report, entitled 'Holding children in mind over time', is calling for a radical rethink of the structure of education for 'less resilient' young people.  It argues secondary schools lack the expertise, resource or training to deal with the emotional needs of many young people due to their current design and organisation. 

The study examined the characteristics of the 296 students who left Bristol's mainstream secondary schools in 2004 without any formal qualifications and undertook a series of in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of this group to find out what went wrong between the ages of 11 and 16.  The interviews revealed how young people, who had thrived at primary school, struggled to cope at all at their secondary school because of complex emotional and social changes in their lives.

The report states that there is an urgent need for professional support and supervision to be made available to teachers to enable them to assess the mental health and behaviours of these less resilient children.  The impact that neglect, early loss and less than secure early attachment has on less resilient children to manage the demands of secondary school life is significant and needs to be addressed.

The report also looked at international models and in particular to the design and organisation of the Danish school system and Pilot Schools in Boston, USA. In both examples, school design and organisation was vital and this enabled young people to stay safe, be mentally healthy and enjoy and achieve in significantly greater measure than less resilient children in Bristol.

The two key recommendations from the research are:

• To provide research-led information for the education service in Bristol about the ways in which less resilient young people could be educated in settings that allow them to stay safe, maintain good mental health, enjoy their learning and achieve qualifications.
• To seek funding for a detailed feasibility study in the design and organisation of a 'small school' based on the Boston Pilot School system, that might become a model of innovative practice to the mainstream education provision in the city.

James Wetz, project director for the research, and visiting fellow in the Graduate School of Education at Bristol University, said: "The students in the research were capable of achieving up to five GCSE passes at C grade or above, with the possibility of going on to take A-levels and get university places and yet they gained no qualifications at secondary school."

Professor Rosamund Sutherland, Head of the Graduate School of Education at Bristol University, added: "This report highlights the needs of less resilient young people who leave secondary school without qualifications not only in Bristol, but across the country.  The report is a timely contribution to the task of raising standards in our schools.  It also represents a unique collaboration involving a range of partners who might not otherwise be in conversation together about the needs of young people."