- Chidren are becoming obese "couch potatoes"
unable to stay awake at school because parents are using television and
computer games as "free" babysitters, a headteachers' leader
said yesterday.
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- David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association
of Head Teachers, blamed dysfunctional parents for under- achievement in
schools.
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- "Too many homes lack good parental role models,"
he told the association's annual conference in Cardiff.
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- Mr Hart said that affluent parents were as guilty of
poor child rearing skills as those on low incomes. "You can have dual
income families who, because they're so busy pursuing their careers, don't
have the time to support their children," he said. "The children
are left for long periods of time to their own devices. An increasing number
are coming to school half asleep."
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- Mr Hart said youngsters were obese because of "atrocious
diet", spent hours playing with computers and were not encouraged
by parents to do their homework. "They don't come into school knowing
how to hold a knife and fork, they don't come in toilet trained, they don't
know how to relate to other youngsters," he added. "Too many
parents collude with truancy and condemn their children to a pattern of
crime. Two-thirds of persistent truants have committed a criminal offence."
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- He added that extra government cash to "break the
vicious link between social and educational under-achievement" did
not necessarily bring parental responsibility. "It is the attitude
of these families, who know all about rights, but precious little about
responsibilities, that has to change," he said.
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- He called on ministers to support new learning contracts
between parents and heads to gain support for school behaviour policies.
"This means not spuriously asserting that sanctions (such as detention)
attack the civil liberties of their children," he said. "This
means not defending the indefensible. For some it might actually mean presenting
their children properly equipped with the right social skills. School staff
are not surrogate parents. They are not social workers. They should not
be expected to waste valuable teaching time doing the job that should have
been done before the child sets foot in the school."
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- Mr Hart acknowledged that the "substantial majority"
of parents were "a profound force for good", but added: "The
problems faced by schools are steadily increasing."
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- Schools with a "disproportionate number" of
pupils from dysfunctional families were being "judged most unfairly"
by exam league tables, he said.
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- "Government cannot control how families behave,"
he added. "But it can understand the context in which schools operate
and support their& staff in the struggle to raise standards, too often
against the odds. Teachers continue to be blamed, unfairly and illogically,
for under achievement that is home based."
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- He accused education authorities of being "intimidated
by lawyers, barrack room or real,or by self appointed pressure groups waving
the civil libertarian flag and threatening damages or other mayhem".
Heads believed the balance between rights and responsibilities must be
redressed. Too often exam league tables ignored "the extent to which
many schools face serious challenges, thrown up by dysfunctional families",
he said.
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- Mr Hart added that the expectations of middle-class families
were too low for their children. "Lifting the barriers to learning
is not exclusive to families who are struggling for reasons of poverty,"
he said.
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- "Deprivation is not confined to the poor. There
are affluent families where inadequate parenting leads to deprivation."
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- Delegates at the conference voted to threaten to walk
out of talks with the Government over reducing teachers' workloads.
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- In a direct snub to Tony Blair, who on Sunday promised
the conference extra funding for schools, they gave the Government a deadline
of 31 December to find enough cash to finance the agreement.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=517910
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