Labor in Tasmania says school kids should be taught ‘social and emotional intelligence’ alongside science, English and P.E, to help them deal with fluctuations in mental health.

The Tasmanian Opposition unveiled the proposed policy during Mental Health Week, saying it would help in the important effort to address mental health concerns early.

Labor health spokesperson Rebecca White said a tailored set of age-appropriate classes would give young people a chance to talk about mental health.

“The same way we teach PE [physical education] and focus on children's physical health, we want to have a focus on children's mental and emotional health as part of the regular classroom learning,” Ms White told reporters this week.

“[We want to] provide opportunities for young people to talk and discuss mental illness and talk and discuss their symptoms and the issues involved and to support one another as they deal with these things through adolescence,” she said.

The Opposition claims the additional classes could be covered by the existing Education Department budget.

The chief executive of Tasmania’s Mental Health Council Connie Digolis said the idea had some merit.

“If we can accept that our children need to have built within the curriculum learning around physical health and how to look after themselves physically then we're overlooking things if we don't also take the same steps to make sure they are looking after themselves socially and mentally,” Ms Digolis said.

She said that generally speaking, reframing mental health as part of a discussion about social and emotional learning would help make it a more everyday subject.

“I think that's a great step to breaking the stigma down, actually talking about it in the sense of social and emotional learning rather than talking about mental health as such,” she said.