Mental Health and Wellbeing
The thing teachers see every day but school was never built to address.
Ask any teacher in Europe what has changed most in their classroom over the past ten years, and most will say the same thing. The emotional weight children carry has grown. Anxiety. Loneliness. Difficulty concentrating. Uncertainty about the future. Pressure from social media. A sense that the world is too much.
Teachers see it. They want to help. But they were not trained for it, they don’t have time for it, and the curriculum does not make room for it.
NextGen makes room.
What children learn
Emotional vocabulary
Children learn to recognise what they are feeling and to find words for it. Not in a clinical way. In a human way. They practice noticing when something is off, for themselves and for others around them.
Digital wellbeing
They learn what it means to take care of their own wellbeing in a world that constantly pulls at their attention. How to manage digital spaces. How to set boundaries. How to ask for help.
Supporting others
They learn to support each other. How to listen without fixing. How to notice when a classmate is struggling. How to create spaces where it is safe to be honest about how you are actually doing.
How they work on it
Wellbeing is not treated as a separate lesson or a mindfulness add-on. It is woven into how every learning journey works. Reflection is part of the process. Checking in is part of the routine. Working in teams means learning to be honest about what is hard.
Some journeys focus specifically on wellbeing themes. Others integrate emotional literacy into projects about climate, technology, or social change, because in real life, these things are not separate either. Worrying about the planet is a mental health issue. Navigating AI is an emotional challenge. Understanding injustice requires emotional resilience.
Children also work with peers from other countries, which creates natural opportunities to talk about how wellbeing looks different in different cultures. What is considered normal to discuss. What is hidden. What helps.
Why this belongs here
Mental health is not a side topic. For this generation, it is one of the defining challenges of growing up. Including it as a core theme in NextGen Education is not a nice extra. It is a recognition that you cannot prepare children for the future if you ignore what they are feeling right now.
Be part of the first wave
We are forming partner schools and country partners now, ahead of the 2026 Erasmus+ submission. Whether you are a school, funder, or education organisation, there is a role for you.