International Journal of Education

In the face of the increasing prevalence and younger age of psychological issues among primary and secondary school students, teachers, as key facilitators of student mental health, must enhance their competency in aiding others. This has become the core issue in mental health education for these students. Based on the core dimensions of helping competency, this study constructs a questionnaire to conduct a baseline survey, systematically analyzing the current characteristics of primary and secondary school teachers across five dimensions: psychological cognition, communication skills, relationship building, problem intervention, and self-regulation. These characteristics include "overall compliance but structural imbalance, and a solid foundation but professional deficiencies." By integrating the "Exploration-Insight-Action" three-stage helping model with recent research findings, this study proposes improvement strategies from four dimensions: a tiered training system, diverse practical platforms, multi-dimensional support mechanisms, and a culture of collective student development. These strategies provide theoretical and practical references for building a high-quality mental health education system in primary and secondary schools.

Primary and secondary school teachers; Helping competence; Mental health education; Improvement strategies