Comment: The unhappy generation

Ironically, on the very same day newspapers and television news reports published a photograph of a man on Brighton seafront, pushing a baby in a buggy towards a wild sea, as huge waves crashed about them.

At the same time news channels continued to publicise details of the rape and murder in Goa of a 15- year-old British girl, Scarlett Keeling, who in November left Britain on an extended "holiday" with her mother, her stepfather and six siblings.

Scarlett was left in the care of her tour operator boyfriend while her mother and siblings travelled elsewhere. She was last seen alive in the early hours of the morning drinking heavily in a bar. She reportedly told a friend she didn't really like the tour operator, but was sleeping with him "because it meant she had food, transport and a roof over her head".

The "unhappy children" headline could not have been better illustrated. One of the key reasons our young people are unhappy is because adults don't look after them.

The headline referred to a quite remarkable statement by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) which next week holds its annual conference.

The ATL has expressed grave concern about the mental health and general well-being of the country's schoolchildren.

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL 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 association is calling for a royal commission to investigate just why Britain's children are so miserable.

Just over a year ago Unicef examined the physical and emotional well-being of children in the world's 21 wealthiest nations - which included the European countries as well as the USA, Canada and Japan. The report, written by Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, of York University, placed the UK last - blaming lack of social cohesion and poor parenting.

Despite living in the fifth richest country, British children experience some of the worst levels of poverty. They are more prone to failure at school and to experience violence and bullying, suffering a greater number of poor relationships with both their families and peers.

British children were more likely to have been drunk or have had under-age sex than those of any other country. They were the most likely to be unhappy and more than a fifth of them considered their physical and mental health as poor. Only Latvia, Russia and Lithuania did worse. Unsurprisingly, girls reported lower levels of satisfaction than boys.

The Unicef report sent shockwaves through Britain's childcare and education sectors. However, it was two recent reports on primary school education that directly precipitated the ATL's call for an inquiry. The review was led by Professor Robin Alexander, of Cambridge University. He came to the conclusion that 3.5 million younger British children were affected by what he called a "loss of childhood" and said primary schools were engulfed by a wave of "antisocial behaviour, materialism and the cult of celebrity".

He also warned that political interference in the primary school timetable, with the emphasis on tests and league tables, had put pupils off lessons and damaged their learning.

The ATL was also influenced by research from the National Association of Head Teachers on testing and assessment. The NAHT concluded children's education had been damaged by too great an emphasis on tests.

The ATL also blames undue emphasis on homework for putting pressure on children, making them "unhappy and anxious". It wants to ban compulsory homework for the nation's primary pupils and set stricter limits on the amount set by secondary schools. A motion to next week's conference says: "Children should be able to explore, experiment and enjoy their learning without feeling pressured."

Dr Bousted said: "We put our children and young people through a plethora of tests and examinations, and then wonder why any enjoyment in learning is destroyed.

"They are drilled to pass the tests so their school can do well in the league tables. At 11 they worry about getting into their parents' choice of secondary school and about getting split up from their friends.

"The pressure is then on to get five good GCSEs, and good A-levels to get into higher education and secure rewarding, well-paid employment. The price is paid by young people who, far too early, are made to feel that they are failures."

I don't doubt Mary Bousted's sincerity. However, it does trouble me that the ATL's key strategy to relieve the pressure on children seems to be to reduce homework.

I also find it worrying that teachers who express concern about bullying - as the ATL does - tend to focus upon so-called "cyber bullying" implying that the increase in bullying arises from the greater opportunities afforded by new technologies.

The reality is that children bully in traditional and non-traditional ways. What the ATL should be exploring is why children feel the need to bully and why schools seem so powerless or unwilling to stop it.

Given the findings of these various reports, it stuns me that a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families had the complacency and barefaced gall to deny that children are "unhappy and anxious" and to boast: "Research shows that, for most children, 2008 is a great time to be a child."

As the reports reveal, children's social relationships are deeply unsatisfactory - but this is hardly surprising. An insidious culture of bullying and abuse is slowly overwhelming contemporary British society.

Abusive behaviour is what children witness in soaps and reality TV shows. It's what many see at home and witness at school - and if they ever happened to watch any footage of Parliament they'd recognise it there as well.

British family life is corrupted by sexism and scarred by domestic and sexual violence. Many children grow up believing that no other way of life is possible. In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that many escape violent families, only to find themselves victims or perpetrators of abuse in their own relationships.

Child abuse is widespread, but child protection services are so inadequate that most children have nowhere to turn for help. Support services for troubled children and those with mental health needs have been decimated and the social work profession is a shadow of what it could be. It's hardly surprising that young people lose themselves in drink and are obsessed with casual sex.

Children have rights, but they are widely flouted. This is because children have no votes, no money, no muscle and therefore no redress. Other than in exceptional circumstances they cannot seek advice, instruct lawyers or demand the support of councillors or MPs.

Councils, school governing bodies, police, health and social services departments are able, if they choose, to ignore them with impunity, and often do just that.

If I were to name just two things that, in the short term, would improve the situation of children, it would be access to properly resourced safe housing and free legal and other advice via children's rights centres in all large towns and cities.

In that way, children denied help or protection, whether by parents, schools or health and social services, would have support and redress.

In such circumstances I suspect we might begin to find a passion for children's rights developing in the most unexpected quarters.

Justice is no substitute for love, but for children who have neither it's a start.

Do you think children need access to housing and legal advice?