Pushover parents to blame for generation of children who 'lack discipline and moral boundaries', says teachers' leader

Philip Parkin warned that teachers are increasingly forced to discipline bad behaviour and take on the role of bringing up children because parents too often pander to their demands.

He blamed the increasing commercialisation of childhood, long working hours, the decline of traditional family structures and the 'shortening of the length of many relationships'.

Father helps children: Kind of example Philip Parkin, head of teachers' union Voice, says is missing in today's society

Mr Parkin, general secretary of the teachers' union Voice, said child-rearing skills may need to become part of the secondary school curriculum to break the cycle of poor parenting.

In a keynote speech to members, he said: 'Schools are being required to take on more and more of the responsibilities that rightly belong to parents; and to provide more of the stability in children's lives which should be provided by families.

'There is also a perception that, in general, the skills of parents are declining as one generation succeeds another.'

He added that the 'character of childhood' had changed significantly in 30 years due to new family structures, 'the emphasis on parents going out to work and the consequent perception of the reduced value and worth of the role of full-time parent'.

The effects in school could be seen in the form of 'low-level disruption', 'cheek' and 'inattention'.

'In my last ten or 15 years in school I saw a significant decline in parenting standards,' said Mr Parkin, who was deputy head at Old Clee Junior School in Grimsby until two years ago. 'Somehow we have got to break this downward spiral of parenting skills.'

He said he has sympathy for today's parents who have to cope with more pressures than in the past. 'It was much easier being a parent when I was a parent back in the 1970s and 80s than it is now,' he said.

But he added that the blame for rising bad behaviour must lie with parents as well as a media that promotes inappropriate values and advertisers who use children as marketing opportunities. 'Care for each other, the sense of community we had, the community which cares for its children, I think that has been significantly eroded,' he said.

'More and more people are self-centred individuals rather than community-minded.'

Surveys had shown that one third of adults believe children's moral values to be just as strong as their own generation's  -  which he said is 'worrying'.

Mr Parkin accused ministers of making the problem worse by emphasising parents' rights rather than their responsibilities.

Schools are increasingly being asked to take on duties related to obesity, gang membership and underage drinking.

'Why aren't parents being asked to take on these responsibilities?' he asked. The presentation at his 38,000-strong union's annual conference in Daventry follows an attack by the Government's discipline tsar, Sir Alan Steer, on a 'greedy culture' contributing to youth violence.

Mr Parkin echoed recent remarks by Barbara Wilding, the chief constable of South Wales, who said: 'Tribal loyalty has replaced family loyalty and gang culture based on drugs and violence is a way of life.'

A Department for Children spokesman said: 'Of course children can't do well at school unless they have the support they need at home.'

:: Every state school should get a military cadet force to instil self-discipline and combat disruptive behaviour, teachers have said.

Voice became the first union to back school-based units, which members said would help imbue values such as self-reliance, loyalty and respect for authority.

Only 130,000 schoolchildren  -  one in 50  -  are currently part of a cadet group. Ministers have pledged to do 'everything possible' to encourage more comprehensives and city academies to join up.