Rude and greedy parents to blame for Britain's violence culture, says behaviour tsar

In a furious diatribe, Sir Alan Steer declared that adults are partly to blame for rising teen violence because youngsters pick up on anti-social behaviour around them.

He attacked a growing "greedy culture" and warned that children are copying adult hostility towards others.

Greedy and rude parents are to blame for Britain's teenage violence crisis, says Sir Alan Steer

Parents especially need to accept their responsibility to set a good example to their children, he said.

Sir Alan, headmaster of an east London comprehensive, spoke out as he prepares to publish proposals for improving behaviour in schools on Monday.

He is expected to say that heads and teachers need more help to deal with parents who undermine their authority and call for schools to get parent support advisers to help families enforce discipline.

Speaking ahead of the document's launch, Sir Alan said the growing toll of killings of young people was "connected to a violent sub-culture".

He went on: "But we bear some responsibility. Sometimes as adults we don't model the behaviour we would want youngsters to follow.

"We live in a greedy culture, we are rude to each other in the street. Children follow that.

"You wonder what has gone wrong in these children's lives. Of course the kids have a responsibility, but there are questions about what's going on at home.

"Parents have a huge responsibility. Government doesn't bring up children, parents do."

Sir Alan has led Seven Kings High School in Ilford for more than 20 years and Ofsted has praised its "outstanding" discipline.

He was appointed by ministers in 2005 to lead a review of school behaviour policies, which led to the law being clarified to give teachers powers to discipline in their own right.

His update next week is expected to highlight the role of parents in addressing behaviour problems at school.

"You need to set out the rights and responsibilities of families," he said.

Sir Alan went on to claim that "pointing the finger of blame" at parents was not constructive and schools also had a role.

"You can pass moral judgements on families, but the reality is that they are in that situation," he said.

"Our job as schools is to educate children. We're places of learning or nothing. But sometimes we have to help bring up children as well. We need to give them tough, intelligent love."

He insisted comprehensives were not responsible for breeding violence as was sometimes made out.

"I get incensed when I read impressions of comprehensives as in chaos. It's not true. The majority are havens for their students from a disruptive society: 90 per cent of parents say they love their kids' schools."

He went on: "They have to mitigate the problems of wider society. Schools and parents need to be clear of their responsibilities. I can't bring up people's children and neither can government. But when things go wrong we can't say it's none of our business.

"We have to give a helping hand."

But Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said parents who are struggling to control their children feel "hauled over the coals" by such remarks.

"We need systems to identify these families, support them and systems to take care of their children if they can't."