Educator Perspectives on, Experiences of, and Attitudes towards Student Self-Harm and Suicide: A Systematic Review

Student self-harm and suicide are persistent and complex challenges in schools. Educators are often the first point of contact for students experiencing these behaviours, yet many report feeling ill-equipped to respond effectively. This mixed-methods systematic review aims to examine educator perspectives on, experiences of and attitudes towards, student self-harm and suicide. Five electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles in English from January 2000 to May 2025 reporting on educators’ perspectives towards student self-harm and suicide. 54 articles were included in the narrative synthesis and assessed for quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Educators held varied perspectives on their role in supporting student self-harm and suicide. While some viewed themselves as gatekeepers, others viewed supporting self-harm and suicide as beyond their professional scope. Some educators perceived self-harm and suicide as genuine signals of underlying distress, while others perceived these behaviours as attention-seeking and happening for trivial reasons such as peer pressure and boredom. Educators consistently reported feeling ill-equipped and identified lacking appropriate knowledge, training and guidance as key barriers to responding and supporting students. Preferred supports included targeted training with scenario-based learning, online modules, and peer discussion opportunities. Practical resources such as crisis plans, flowcharts, and clear guidelines were also identified as essential. Overall, this synthesis of educator perspectives highlights the need for interventions that provide educators with the skills, confidence, and resources to respond effectively to student self-harm and suicide. Trial Registration : This systematic review was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251043232; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251043232 ) on 29 May 2025, and is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement (Page et al., 2021). The completed PRISMA checklist is available in Supplementary File 1.