Parents an obstacle to early lessons

CAREY'S CRUSADE: TEACHERS' VIEW

Schools already teach children right from wrong and the Ten Commandments, teachers said yesterday. They claimed a large part of their jobs already involved explaining to children why they should not steal or tell lies, adding that their jobs were often made more difficult by unco-operative parents.

John Dunford, head of Durham Johnston Comprehensive school, County Durham, said he often based assemblies on the Commandments. "I might give a series of short readings . . . We might then discuss ways in which stealing is wrong," he said.

Dr Carey had probably gone to school in an age when schools, parents and society were all pulling in the same direction, he said. Now, the school's good work was obstructed by other pressures including those from films and television. "We only have the children for five or six hours a day, 200 days a year. It must be society's expectation that the main responsibility should fall on parents," Mr Dunford said.

Other teachers agreed with him. The Ten Commandments were already in the Religious Education syllabus, and other religions studied by children had many similar rules, they said.

John McNicholas, who retired at Easter as head teacher of Molescroft Primary School on Humberside, said a distinction should be made between moral teaching and doctrinal teaching in schools.

"Morals have always been taught in schools, and parents are happy with that. I think we have got to stick to the valuesaccepted by parents," he said.

Liz Paver, head of Intake First School in Doncaster and a member of the Church of England's General Synod, welcomed the fact that Dr Carey had raised the issues but echoed the sentiment that schools were already doing their bit..

Michael Russell, head of Junior School in Bow, east London, said parents often failed to back up the morals taught by schools. "The difficulty we have is that the partnership between parents and school is often based on tenuous ground. Parents don't necessarily accept that the behaviour of the child is important," he said.

But Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said schools should leave morality to others and get on with teaching the curriculum. "There's too much preaching and not enough teaching," he said.