Why we need to focus on the happiness of children at school - Eloise Rickman

If you’re a parent then your social media feed this month has probably been full of happy smiling children heading off to school, all shiny shoes, tidy hair, and oversized uniforms. But for many children the start of the new school year is not a joyful one.

Recent research from the Children’s Society found that school is the area of life that more children are unhappy with than any other. This is supported by NHS data which shows that almost 40 per cent of children do not enjoy learning at school, with around a quarter of those surveyed claiming that they could not be themselves at school, and the same number again saying that they did not feel safe.

What can be done? While researching It’s Not Fair I spoke to children, their parents, and their teachers about the change they felt was needed. Their suggestions broadly fell into five categories (beyond the universal plea for better funding).

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1) Embed children’s rights across the entire education sector. Despite the lip-service paid to children’s rights, few schools explicitly incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into their policies, practices, or teaching.

Children in a school classroom. PIC: Danny Lawson/PA WireChildren in a school classroom. PIC: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Children in a school classroom. PIC: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

2) Ditch the obsession with exams. Most people assume that exams are vital to a rich and rigorous education, but that’s simply not true. Exams are a deliberate choice. The Finnish education system, recognised as one of the best in the world, has no standardised testing apart from one exam students take upon leaving high school. One ex-teacher told me that one of her main motivations for leaving the profession was seeing children as young as six who required mental health support for anxiety over exams. Yet despite all the pressure children are under, a third do not manage to achieve a passing grade in English and Maths. By creating a system where some children are guaranteed to fail no matter how hard they try, we are failing children.

3) Have no tolerance for ‘zero-tolerance’. Strict behaviour policies which don’t take into account children’s needs and circumstances are bad for everyone, but they are especially hard on those who are vulnerable, disabled, or neurodivergent. Shaming a child with ADHD for enthusiastically calling out an answer or giving an insecurely-housed teen a detention for forgetting their homework does more harm than good, and it’s fundamentally uncaring.

4) Balance the curriculum in favour of more art, drama, sport, practical skills, time outdoors, and collaborative, project-based learning. All children have the right to an education which supports them to reach their fullest potential, but a quick look around shows that our current education system is simply not delivering on its promises. We know that people all have wildly different skills and talents, so why does our education system still put so much emphasis on a narrow academic curriculum where subjects are learned in isolation from each other?

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5) Build bridges, don’t burn them. I’ve heard from parents who have successfully advocated for their child to attend school flexibly, who have opted out of testing and homework, and who have worked with teachers to remove behaviour charts from the classroom.

There is much that individual schools and parents can do, but without significant policy change educators will continue to feel the pressure to push all children towards a singular form of success where only a few can ever truly succeed. Maybe instead of looking at how well children perform when examined on a curriculum which bears little resemblance to real life, we should instead be asking how well the school system is set up to help them thrive - and how happy they are.

Eloise Rickman is the author of It’s Not Fair: Why It’s Time For A Grown-Up Conversation About How Adults Treat Children.

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