Industry News
Teachers call for enquiry into 'unhappiness epidemic'
Posted on 11th March 2008
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is set to take the unprecedented step of calling for an independent enquiry into why so many of Britain's children are unhappy.
Although a number of independent schools, such as Wellington College, have recognised the strain that modern lifestyles place on many children, other schools have been slow to catch up.
With ever-increasing amounts of testing in schools and a breakdown in social cohesion in the UK, a recent study from the United Nations found that Britain's children were the unhappiest in the western world.
Dr Mary Bousted, the ATL's general secretary, said: "There is rising concern that more and more children are coming to school unable to learn because their lives are so dispirited and they are under stress."
The headmaster of Wellington College, a prestigious Berkshire private school, has made the case for a more holistic approach to teaching school children that incorporates learning how to "live and be happy".
Anthony Seldon believes that depressing, self-harming and anxiety are on the rise among young people, which should be tackled in schools.