Teachers and parents are “abdicating their responsibility” by increasingly involving children in major decisions, according to a leading academic. They are fuelling a “crisis of adult authority” by promoting young people’s rights, it was claimed. Dennis Hayes, professor of education at Derby University, said the current “obsession” with consulting pupils over issues such as homework and the school curriculum undermined the power of adults. He suggested that the shift was fuelling bad behaviour among children.
It comes as the Government’s new Education Bill creates a series of 23 “guarantees” for schoolchildren. The proposed legislation – outlined in the Queen’s Speech – gives pupils the legal right to “have their say about standards of behaviour in their school”.
Schools are already obliged to ask children about major policies, including uniform, health and safety, school dinners and equality. New-style Ofsted inspections allow pupils to rate teaching standards and many schools also include children on interview panels when appointing new staff. Supporters claim that listening to the “pupil voice” increases the bond between children and the school – meaning they are more likely to behave and work hard.
But Prof Hayes said most children “know nothing” because they have not experienced life. “Everywhere I go the clearest sign of the rejection of adult authority is listening to learner, student, pupil [or] infant voice. Anybody’s voice but the voice of adults,” he said. “I love debating with pupils and students and getting them to research but basically they know nothing.”
He said that in previous generations the most important thing was to “transmit” education to young people. But in a speech to the Westminster Education Forum, in central London, he said that involving pupils in education and the decision-making process made adults appear “abject”.
Addressing an audience of teachers, civil servants and police officers, he said: “You are all professionals and you are saying that all you have to do is listen to young people. Well, you are abandoning your jobs – your role as adults – and you will make education in the future impossible.” He added: “What are you going to say if you are 14 and asked about Latin? ‘Oh God, why do I have to study Latin, it is so boring?’ That is not a critique of the curriculum. That is a whinge from a 14-year-old who doesn’t want to do the hard work.”
Prof Hayes is the co-author of the book The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education, which suggested that pushing pupils to talk about their feelings created a culture of dependence among children. He said similar conclusions could be drawn in the justice system, where the views of victims play an increasing role in punishments.
“I think victims are at the centre of everything now. That’s one of the features of our times,” he said. “No matter what they say, we like to hear their voice. It’s therapy for victims and it is therapy for you. Nothing comes from it, we don’t learn anything, we just feel a bit better. We feel we’ve listened and we feel that people have expressed themselves."
“That is the only thing you can do when you have abandoned authority. It is the same with parents. The obsession with parents these days is that they are always looking for someone to blame. You are looking for someone else to blame to avoid the problem of facing up to your own responsibility.”
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