{"id":119,"date":"2025-03-14T13:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T13:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/ALSPD\/?p=119"},"modified":"2025-03-18T13:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T13:41:07","slug":"119","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/ALSPD\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/119\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health and Wellbeing in Work Based Learning and Apprenticeships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Work Based Learning and Apprenticeships<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Advisory note on sensitive content: <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>This blog post mentions mental health and suicide which may be upsetting or triggering for some readers. Sources of support are listed in the reference section below.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This week, on Thursday 13 March, the Open University marked <\/span><\/i>University Mental Health Day<\/span><\/i><\/a> (UMHD) with a range of wellbeing activities for staff and students. Co-organised by <\/span><\/i>Student Minds<\/span><\/i><\/a> and <\/span><\/i>UMHAN<\/span><\/i><\/a>, #UniMentalHealthDay is an annual acknowledgement of the need to better support those studying with their mental health and wellbeing (UMHD, 2025). In this blog post, Jenny Hillman considers what more universities might need to do to understand the needs of work-based learners and apprentices.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mental health at university <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent reporting suggests a continuing increase in the number of students sharing a mental health condition at university. In the UK, universities are responding with whole institutional approaches to supporting student mental health, with many adopting the Suicide Safer guidance from Universities UK (2018). The Open University (OU), like many other providers, developed a <\/span>Student and Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy<\/span><\/a> to reflect this commitment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the persistence of the mental health degree awarding gap that exists across the sector tells us that most universities have a lot of work to do to reduce inequalities for students with mental health conditions. Yet, a growing corpus of research reflects <\/span>at least<\/span><\/b> a greater awareness (and hopefully an enhanced understanding) of student mental health experiences and how these are also shaped by things like race, disability and neurodiversity, sexual and gender identity, and socio-economic background (see Butcher, Awan and Gray, 2021 for an example of a study on student intersectionality in mental health).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Universities are also increasingly offering a range of mental health services for students (such as counselling) and seeking to strengthen wellbeing, rather than just responding reactively to students in crisis (Lister et al, 2023). This is reflected in the vocabulary we use, where \u2018mental health\u2019 and \u2018wellbeing\u2019 are distinct things but also overlapping in institutional approaches to pastoral support and student welfare. Of course, \u2018wellbeing\u2019 itself is not unproblematic as a term because its meanings are culturally situated. In HE, our discussions of student \u2018wellbeing\u2019 are largely rooted in language which reflects Westernised conceptions of the word which are fundamentally different from meanings of \u2018wellbeing\u2019 in other cultural traditions. Accepting that these definitions are themselves imperfect, then, for the purposes of this post I am adopting the following:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Mental health refers to a full spectrum of experience ranging from good mental health to mental illness […] Wellbeing will encompass a wider framework of which mental health is an integral part, but which also includes physical and social wellbeing\u2019 (Advance HE, 2022).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Work-based learners <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The mental health and wellbeing of those on work-based learning or apprenticeship programmes has received less attention than the experiences of students on other modes of study (Umeokafor and Okoro, 2023). Whilst some might argue that apprenticeships are more \u2018alt-uni\u2019 than an \u2018alternative to uni\u2019 (WonkHE, 2025), it is clear that the challenges for work-based learners with mental health needs may be experienced in very different ways. In England, HE has seen significant growth in higher and degree apprenticeships (HEPI, 2023; HEPI 2025) and, despite some wobbles over apprenticeship reforms proposed by a new Labour government (THE, 2024), work-based learning is going to be increasingly important for addressing the UK skills gap.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crucially, apprentices and work-based learners must navigate the demands of traditional study and meeting academic standards, as well as being secure in the professional competencies that their employer expects to see. In addition to the familiar academic stressors recognised in much of the literature on student mental health, studies focused on apprentices and work-based learners have found additional challenges. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, many of these challenges reflect the complexity of the relationship between the employer-apprentice\/student-workplace-and university.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scholars have noted, for example, that learner mental health and wellbeing may be affected by:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n