The tool is used by 50,000 schoolchildren at 150 schools and one says it has helped decrease self-harm by 20%.
One of England's biggest academy chains is testing pupils' mental health using an AI (artificial intelligence) tool which can predict self-harm, drug abuse and eating disorders, Sky News can reveal.
A leading technology think tank has called the move "concerning", saying "mission creep" could mean the test is used to stream pupils and limit their educational potential.
The Academies Enterprise Trust has joined private schools such as Repton and St Paul's in using the tool, which tracks the mental health of students across an entire school and suggests interventions for teachers.
This month, 50,000 schoolchildren at 150 schools will take the online psychological test, called AS Tracking, including 10,000 Academies Enterprise Trust pupils.
Teachers say use of the tool is "snowballing" as it offers a way to ease the pressure on teenagers struggling to deal with social media scrutiny and academic stress.
The test, which is taken twice a year, asks students to imagine a space they feel comfortable in, then poses a series of abstract questions, such as "how easy is it for somebody to come into your space?"
The child can then respond by clicking a button on a scale that runs from "very easy" to "very difficult"
Dr Simon Walker, a cognitive scientist who conducted studies with 10,000 students in order to develop AS Tracking, says this allows teachers to hear pupils' "hidden voice" - in contrast to traditional surveys, which tend to ask more direct questions.
"A 13-year-old girl or boy isn't going to tell a teacher whether they're feeling popular or thinking about self harm, so getting reliable information is very difficult," he says.
Once a child has finished the questionnaire, the results are sent to STEER, the company behind AS Tracking, which compares the data with its psychological model, then flags students which need attention in its teacher dashboard.
"Our tool highlights those particular children who are struggling at this particular phase of their development and it points the teachers to how that child is thinking," says STEER co-founder Dr Jo Walker.
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