Middle-class parents 'failing to teach give and take'

Some children are not taught how to "give and take", respect authority and take into consideration the needs of others, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) Dr Mary Bousted suggested.

At the ATL's annual conference next week, members will debate a motion which calls for schools to be given the means to deal with disruptive pupils.

Part of the radical motion, brought by the ATL Cheshire branch calls for the benefits system to be altered so "parents of disruptive pupils lose part of their child benefit".

Dr Bousted said parents have a "duty to bring their child up so that they understand how they should behave in school, respecting authority and the right of other pupils in the class to learn". But some parents "do not support the right of the teacher to teach and to let other people in the class learn."

They fail to create conditions at home that give children the chance to learn to the best of their abilities in school, said Dr Bousted.

Part of the problem is that some children are living "increasingly isolated lives".

"They are not learning about give and take within the family," she said. Children need to learn how to get on with others and to accept the authority of the teacher in charge of the whole class. And Dr Bousted said it is not always poorer parents that are guilty of failing to teach their child these skills.

"Often it's the well-off middle classes that buy off their children through the computer and the TV, that then isolates them within the home, and then they're surprised when their child isn't coming to school ready to learn."

Last year, Dr Bousted raised concerns that too many young children were starting school without the basic life skills required, some not even being able to use a toilet, or hold a knife and fork properly.

She warned yesterday: "Many teachers feel they are working their socks off under an extremely rigid accountability framework to get children to learn but are not being supported by home."

The motion also calls for parents of badly-behaved children to attend parenting classes to help them deal with their unruly youngster.

Dr Bousted acknowledged that the motion in general was "quite extreme" but said it raises relevant issues.

The ATL last year called on the Government to cut back the amount of homework set for teenagers and abolish it altogether for primary schools children as it can lead to undue stress.