PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1621170
This article is part of the Research TopicPublic Health Strategies to Improve Mental Health in the Education Sector: Perspectives and ApplicationsView all 23 articles
Challenges and Prospects of Integrating Mental Health Education in Chinese Schools
Provisionally accepted
Yingmei Shang
Haifeng Zhu*- Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China
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China has long been committed to promoting students' mental well-being by integrating mental health education (MHE) across primary, secondary, and higher education. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of how MHE is integrated in Chinese schools. It first examines the current state of integration through a review of policy and relevant literature. It then explores the key challenges across four dimensions: institutional mechanisms, educational practices, targeted interventions, and teacher workforce development. Finally, the paper discusses future directions for advancing MHE in Chinese schools, including updating educational philosophies, strengthening institutional frameworks, building holistic student support systems, and enhancing teacher training, ultimately aiming to promote the high-quality development of MHE in China.
Keywords: mental health education, student mental development, Chinese schools, Challenges, prospects
Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shang and Zhu. 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: Haifeng Zhu, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China
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