Tampere rolls out new model to support upper secondary students’ mental health

Tampere has introduced a new model to help upper secondary schools support students’ mental health, bringing together existing practices and developing new ones. The city is the first in Finland to adopt the approach, Yle reports.

The Mielenpolku model was developed with the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county, student groups and Mieli ry, a mental health organisation. It focuses on developing school culture, training school leaders and teachers, and listening to students.

The initiative follows concerns about young people’s mental health and academic pressures. In the latest school health survey, 17 per cent of Tampere upper secondary students reported symptoms of depression lasting at least two weeks during the year. About one in four girls in the city’s upper secondary schools reported moderate or severe anxiety.

Students Susanna Eikrem, 19, and Aune Pelkonen, 17, from Tammerkoski Upper Secondary School say they have experienced the strain. Eikrem said pressure came from the matriculation examinations and her own expectations. Seeing news about people earning 50 top grades made her wonder whether she was expected to do the same.

Pelkonen said group assignments had proved unexpectedly stressful. She found herself checking each evening whether other group members had finished their work, and said the problems made her afraid to go to class. Both students said friends and hobbies helped them cope. They also want students’ views to be genuinely considered in decisions affecting them.

At Tammerkoski, which has more than 900 students, existing measures include activities to build connections between students, tutoring and school-wide singalongs. Teachers also try to spread assignments across the study period to even out workloads.

School principal Leeni Kirvesmäki said the model might not bring major changes to everyday practices, but that making mental wellbeing more visible and putting it into words was important. City development manager Tuija Leppäharju said a key change was including the issue in annual plans and monitoring it systematically.

The model does not provide additional funding or more school social workers. The city says closer cooperation with the wellbeing services county is intended to help direct existing resources more effectively. The model’s effects are due to be assessed through surveys next spring.