ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is concerned with the concept of mental health in relation to education. Knowing more about mental health or democracy is not like knowing more about wild flowers, chess, or the nesting habits of the crested grebe. For part of the point of getting down to facts is to take some practical action–to teach children in a different way, create new sorts of school, train teachers differently, perhaps hire more psychologists, and so forth. The book suggests that the teachers must be particularly alive to what mental health is. It is also concerned with shaping individuals: with turning children, who are potentially adults, into genuine adults. If mental health is important for every individual, then teachers must be particularly alive to what mental health is.
