Why we should be bovvered about soap opera syndrome

That was the message today from a teaching union, which links the imitation of catchphrases from TV comedies such as Little Britain and Catherine Tate to the growth of bad behaviour in the classroom.

A new poll reveals that more and more children are using sayings such as "am I bovvered?" and " computer says no" during lessons.

Ralph Surman, of the Government's School Behaviour Task Force, said today that pupils are now so saturated with images of violence, selfishness and greed portrayed by soaps and reality TV shows such as Big Brother that they have lost touch with the difference between fantasy and reality.

This week, his union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, will call for a new drive to tackle the growing discipline problems caused by cyber-bullying and media " overstimulation" of children.

The ATL's annual conference, which begins in Bournemouth today, will urge the Government and internet websites such as YouTube to take tough measures to combat bullying and bad behaviour.

The ATL will publish a poll of teachers which says that " whatevah" and "am I bovvered?" - the favourite phrase of Lauren Cooper, the mouthy schoolgirl from The Catherine Tate Show - have become the most popular classroom catchphrases, heard by two thirds of respondents.

The survey will show that 81 per cent of ATL members believe TV has a negative as well as a positive impact, with students using the catchphrases to insult teachers.

The poll also demonstrated that teachers believe children bring the aggressive behaviour they see on television into the classroom.

One anonymous respondent said: "When on the Teachers programme a member of staff was slapped, we had two examples of this in our school the next week. We never had this before in 30 years. Where else would this have come from? They acted as though it was acceptable."

Mr Surman, who teaches at a primary school in Nottinghamshire, said: "All of the violence and all of the issues that run through the soaps - they are very things that are eating away at the fabric of society. It creates endemic damage."

Characters in TV soaps "always have low aspirations, they are uncaring, they don't treat individuals very well - you've got anger, domestic violence. The other thing that I get annoyed about is that they are always shouting on these programmes," Mr Surman said.

He continued: "Children particularly cannot separate fantasy from reality - that's why I call it soap opera syndrome. They don't know what is real and what is not real. They all carry on like they are in Big Brother."

Mr Surman also warned that children are sending each other violent and pornographic images via "Blue Tooth" wireless technology, which enables pictures to be sent from mobile to mobile silently, with no calls or charges necessary.

Boys were sending each other hardcore porn, while girls were more likely to use mobiles to bully others. Mr Surman said he had come across a "nasty" case of bullying by email recently involving a group of four 10-and 11-year-old girls. The girls had emailed the victim, saying "you are going to die" and had used "a lot of bad and abusive language", Mr Surman said.

The task force was led by Sir Alan Steer, headmaster of Seven Kings High School in Ilford. Its recommendations, which included giving teachers stronger powers to discipline pupils both in and out of school, were published in October 2005, accepted by the Government and have now been enacted into law.

Top 10 catchphrases

Catchphrase - % of teachers who have overheard it used by pupils

Whatev-ah! (The Catherine Tate Show/Little Britain) - 69%
Am I bovvered? (The Catherine Tate Show) - 65%
D'oh! (The Simpsons) - 54%
Innit? (Little Britain) - 48%
The computer says no (Little Britain) - 39%
You are the weakest link... goodbye - 28%
I'm a celebrity... get me out of here - 12%
You have been evicted (Big Brother) - 10%
WAGs (WAGs Boutique) - 9%
This fing you know nuffin about (Little Britain) - 4%

(Source: survey of more than 400 ATL teachers interviewed in February and March 2007)