ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
This article is part of the Research TopicInterdisciplinary Approaches to Enhancing Child and Adolescent Mental Health in SchoolsView all 9 articles
A qualitative examination of the role of school leadership teams in secondary school mental health policy and practice for autistic students
Provisionally accepted
- 1Group for Research in Relationships and NeuroDiversity (GRRAND), Faculty of Brain Sciences, Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, UCL, London, United Kingdom
- 2University College London Department of Psychology and Human Development, London, United Kingdom
- 3Anna Freud Centre, London, United Kingdom
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Background: Although school-based mental health initiatives are gaining attention, research remains limited on effective and sustainable implementation, especially for autistic students. School leadership play a pivotal role in shaping mental health initiatives. However, their roles and perspectives, particularly regarding autistic students, are under-researched. Methods: We applied Reflexive Thematic Analysis to 22 semi-structured interviews with senior leadership teams’ (SLTs) members from state-funded mainstream secondary schools across six regions in England. Interviews were co-produced with an advisory team and adopted a curious stance to explore SLT members’ perspectives on promoting and supporting autistic students’ mental health. Results: Using inductive coding and iterative discussions, we identified four key themes: (1) SLTs’ views and beliefs about autism and autistic students, (2) The use of one-size-fits-all approaches in mental health policy and provision, (3) The difficulty of overcoming and deepening systemic barriers in organising mental health provision, and (4) The need to deepen participation with stakeholders and services. Findings revealed existing gaps and barriers in autism-informed provision and highlighted the changes and resources needed to facilitate mental health provision for autistic students from SLTs’ perspectives. Conclusion: Results offer actionable insights for practice and policy, especially in light of the systemic and cultural challenges SLTs face.
Keywords: autism, school mental health, Student wellbeing, School leadership, neurodiversity affirming practice
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cetinas, Van Herwegen, Al-Jayoosi, Roisin, Hurry and PAVLOPOULOU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: GEORGIA PAVLOPOULOU, georgia.pavlopoulou@gmail.com
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