Teacher development: embedding mental health in the curriculum

This microcredential will give you the knowledge and tools to design teaching, learning and assessment activities that support positive mental health. You’ll learn how to apply inclusive teaching strategies to support young people and help them develop resilience. You’ll become more aware of the triggers and issues that can lead to mental health difficulties and how to address these within your practice while also exploring institution-wide approaches to mental wellbeing.

Key features

  • Discover how to better support your students’ mental wellbeing
  • Learning is applicable to a variety of educational settings and sectors across the world
  • Designed by leading academics and global experts with experience in inclusive course design
  • Acquire skills you can apply to your practice straight away
  • Endorsed by Mental Health Foundation

What is a microcredential?

Microcredentials are professional development short courses with academic credit designed to help you quickly build in-demand career skills and knowledge that you can immediately apply. Learn more about microcredentials.

Qualifications

HZVM883 is an optional module in our:

Module

Module code
HZVM883
Credits

Credits

  • Credits measure the student workload required for the successful completion of a module or qualification.
  • One credit represents about 10 hours of study over the duration of the course.
  • You are awarded credits after you have successfully completed a module.
  • For example, if you study a 60-credit module and successfully pass it, you will be awarded 60 credits.
15
Study level
Across the UK, there are two parallel frameworks for higher education qualifications, the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Northern Ireland and Wales (FHEQ) and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). These define a hierarchy of levels and describe the achievement expected at each level. The information provided shows how OU postgraduate modules correspond to these frameworks.
OU Postgraduate
SCQF 11
FHEQ 7
Study method
This microcredential is studied entirely online
Module cost
See Module registration
Entry requirements

Find out more about entry requirements.

What you will study

On this postgraduate microcredential, you’ll delve into how to design inclusive teaching, learning, and assessment activities and ways of harnessing technology to enhance student mental health and wellbeing. Over 12 weeks, you’ll cover the following topics.

  • Introduction to mental health, wellbeing and learning
  • Barriers to student mental health in teaching and learning
  • Diverse learners and their wellbeing
  • Designing learning: multiple means of engagement
  • Representing learners' backgrounds and developing strong communities
  • Multiple means of expression: assessment and feedback
  • Technology and learner wellbeing
  • Online learning, social media and student wellbeing
  • Institution-wide approaches to learner wellbeing
  • Innovative pedagogies and learners' wellbeing

You will learn

By the end of your learning, you’ll be able to:

  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the different ways in which mental health is defined and discussed and of the relationship between mental health and learning in diverse global contexts
  • identify and critically evaluate some of the barriers to embedding mental health into the curriculum and how they might be managed
  • evaluate existing curriculum content and identify potential impacts, positive and negative, on student mental health
  • design teaching, learning and assessment activities that promote mental wellbeing and are conducive to positive mental health
  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the potential impact of educational technologies on student mental health and critically evaluate how those technologies can be used to enhance student wellbeing
  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the different ways in which mental health is defined and discussed and of the relationship between mental health and learning in diverse global contexts
  • synthesise and critically evaluate relevant experience, accounts and formal research evidence as the basis for recommending appropriate ways of designing curricula that are conducive to student mental health and wellbeing.

Skills you will gain

  • Inclusive curriculum design
  • Designing inclusive assessment and group work
  • Designing teaching strategies
  • Designing online learning that supports learner wellbeing
  • Evaluating teaching, learning and assessment activities for their potential impact on learner wellbeing
  • Building learner communities and supporting positive relationships
  • Selecting educational technologies that support mental health
  • Identifying barriers to mental health and wellbeing
  • Selecting teaching resources that reflect learners' interests and backgrounds
  • Teaching mental health-related topics
  • Mental wellbeing and online learning
  • Designing assessment activities

Vocational relevance

The course will benefit anyone working in or looking to work in universities, colleges and further education, schools (particularly secondary schools), adult education, and workplace learning and development settings. It will enhance the employability of teachers, trainers, lecturers, learning designers, education technologists and specialists, heads of departments, and institution leaders and managers.

Created by leading experts and practitioners from The Open University

  • Dr Leigh-Anne Perryman leads The Open University’s (OU) Masters in Online Teaching programme within the Institute of Educational Technology. Her research explores the relationship between equity, social justice, online teaching and open pedagogies.
  • Kate Lister is a global expert in accessibility, inclusive pedagogy and mental health. She managed inclusive practice at the OU and co-led Advance HE’s Mental Health in the Curriculum project. She actively contributed to the OU’s Student Mental Health Working Group and the Mental Health Research Group, as well as chairing the Open and Inclusive Special Interest Group and cross-faculty Accessibility Working Group.
  • Dr Simon Ball is an OU tutor and consultant researcher, specialising in inclusive online learning, educational technologies and accessibility.
  • Dr Tim Coughlan is a lecturer at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at the OU, where he’s the Accessibility Coordinator for IET’s curriculum, chairs the Securing Greater Accessibility (SeGA) Coordination Group and plays a role in steering accessibility activities at the Open University and beyond.
  • Dr Gini Harrison is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the OU. Her research spans several psychological domains, including mental health and wellbeing, eHealth, neurotoxicology and applied cognitive psychology.

This microcredential is endorsed by the Mental Health Foundation

The Foundation has provided a comprehensive review of the course content, supplementary learning materials, and practical, realistic examples to enhance core learning content.

Mental Health Foundation logo

Teaching and assessment

Assessment

You’ll take part in weekly tasks and discussions with co-learners to support and consolidate your learning. Towards the end of the course, you’ll submit a project or assessment demonstrating the skills you’ve acquired. This will be marked and graded by subject matter experts and make up 100% of your final mark.

Study support

  • Learn 100% online on the OU’s learning platform with a mix of video, audio and written materials
  • Engage in interactive learning through self-assessment questions, polls, tasks and reflection
  • Share ideas and experiences in discussion with other learners, building skills, confidence and knowledge
  • Receive support from mentors who guide discussions and answer questions
  • Study at a time that suits you with the flexibility to access the course from your desktop, tablet or mobile device

What you will gain

15 UK credits at postgraduate level from The Open University*. Academic credits are awarded on passing the final assessment. These will be at postgraduate level 7 of the Framework for Higher Education (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) / level 11 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

*Academic credit may be used towards selected OU qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications. The credit awarded may also be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.

Course work includes

End-of-module assessment

Future availability

Teacher development: embedding mental health in the curriculum typically starts twice a year, in March and October. This page describes the microcredential that will begin in March 2025.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.

Entry requirements

This postgraduate-level microcredential will benefit educators from a variety of education settings and sectors. You will ideally have:

  • a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent level qualification
  • experience working in education or training
  • a strong interest in learner mental health and wellbeing.

Please note

  • If you don’t have a degree or equivalent level qualification, you may find the postgraduate level assessment challenging.
  • The course material doesn’t assume learners are working. Past experiences will be just as relevant.
  • All teaching is in English, and your English proficiency needs to be adequate for postgraduate study. As a guide, this corresponds to Level 7 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). However, you won’t need to provide a formal English language score to enrol.

Course length

This 12-week course requires approximately 12.5 hours of self-paced learning per week, totalling around 150 hours for completion.

Register

Start End Fee Register
10 Mar 2025 Jun 2025 Not yet available

Registration opens on 13/01/25

This module is expected to start for the last time in October 2032.

Future availability

Teacher development: embedding mental health in the curriculum typically starts twice a year, in March and October. This page describes the microcredential that will begin in March 2025.

Additional costs

Study costs

There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.

Ways to pay for this module

We know there’s a lot to think about when choosing to study, not least how much it’s going to cost and how you can pay.

That’s why we keep our fees as low as possible and offer a range of flexible payment and funding options, including a postgraduate loan, if you study this module as part of an eligible qualification. To find out more, see Fees and funding.

Please note, postgraduate and OUSBA loans are not available as payment methods for microcredentials.

Microcredentials

Most people pay for their microcredential with a credit or debit card. You may also consider approaching your employer to cover the cost.

Study materials

What's included

All learning materials, exercises and activities are delivered entirely online.

While certain content can be downloaded, some content is exclusively accessible online, requiring a reliable internet connection for viewing. Please consider this if you are travelling.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet, you can contact us about the support which can be given to meet your needs.

To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.

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Our prospectuses help you choose your course, understand what it's like to be an OU student and register for study.

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