'Must-have' world puts pressure on parents, says school head

Graham Gorton, chairman of the Independent Schools Association, said Britain has a "must-have" culture which makes parents feel they have failed if their child does not have the same goods as their classmates.

This pressure risks damaging family life, he said in a speech to the association's annual conference in Bournemouth yesterday.

Mr Gorton said: "Over recent decades we seem to have created a 'must-have' culture amongst our young people.

"Many see that they may be perceived to be failing as parents if they do not ensure that their children have the latest gadgets and electronic devices along with their peers.

"Many parents also, I suspect, feel pressured to enrol their offspring into every conceivable club or after-school activity that is available, including through the weekends.

"This must have an impact on the very precious family time that exists. Long gone, it seems, are those times when a whole weekend ahead with nothing planned was seen as a luxury and a perfect opportunity to spend time together and share those valuable and irreplaceable moments of childhood."

Mr Gorton, who is headmaster of Howe Green House School in Hertfordshire, a private school for three to 11-year-olds, also said children were being robbed of their childhood by constant testing.

"I believe that it is important to our nation's well-being that such individualities are encouraged and allowed to flourish," he said.

"Are we not in danger of robbing our pupils of the very essence of childhood by constantly judging their development against a target-driven educational system? Any child development psychologist would tell you that children learn best by experience and by taking measured risks.

"Is the world of education, which is currently driven by legislation, jeopardising these opportunities to learn? I fear that the answer to this question may well be a resounding 'yes'."

A "tide of legislation" is tying the hands of private schools, Mr Gorton said, and teachers were leaving the profession after becoming disillusioned by red tape.

"I know that this feeling of overburden is especially felt in smaller schools who still have to meet the same bank of regulations as larger educational establishments," he said.

The association represents 300 independent schools.