There is a growing expectation that schoolteachers should not only act as educators by delivering the national curriculum, but also be more involved as tier one mental health professionals. In this role they are expected to assume some responsibility in the early identification of children's mental health problems and to refer these children for…

This issue of the journal brings together six educationalists with distinctive concerns about the range and quality of support needed and given to children and young people who experience difficulties in managing school or college. Their foci are very different: the "impact of fathers" (present or absent) on the young person's attitude…

Pastoral care embodies the idea that schools should not limit their activities to the transmission of knowledge but should educate the whole child. This paper outlines five "pastoral tasks", casework, preventive work, pastoral curriculum, community building and management, and considers how each might contribute to the five desired…