Teachers play a prominent role in students’ well-being. Most Indian schools have, on average, more than 40 students in each class. Teachers have multiple responsibilities and can often feel over-burdened. In this context, teachers can find it hard to bear the complexity of adolescence in mind.  

Although corporal punishment is prohibited, the use of harsh practices in the classroom (e.g., to discipline students) is still widespread.  The cultural embeddedness of the proverb “Spare the rod, spoil the child” may be driving this. WP2 aims to work with teachers to co-produce an intervention to support the use of teaching practices that protect adolescent emotional well-being without compromising academic expectations and ambitions.  

We will combine this with a co-produced mental health literacy intervention for teachers. When teachers understand the signs and drivers of common adolescent experiences such as anxiety and low mood, they are more able to understand their behaviour in the classroom and academically.  

Our co-production of the SAMA for Teachers programme will include young people (disproportionately girls), teachers, school leaders, parents and education stakeholders and national organisations (e.g., State Education & Health Department, Teachers of India, ChildLine India, Save the Children).  

We will feasibility test SAMA for Teachers in our eight study schools. We will examine acceptability, feasibility, processes of change, any adverse negative effects, best outcomes measures and intervention development needs in advance of a definitive trial. Our primary outcome for this intervention will be teacher mental health literacy and teacher use of positive classroom practices.