Children face 'intense pressure'

There is widespread concern that family life is "breaking down" and the culture of respect is disappearing, according to Cambridge University's Primary Review.

In the first of a series of research papers, the Primary Review uncovered a national mood of anxiety that children are being forced to grow up too soon.

Primary Review director Robin Alexander said: "For a Government which has invested so much in its drive to raise educational standards, there is a battle for hearts and minds to be won.

"The unease about the present and pessimism about the future which we uncovered as we travelled round the country and talked to many people both inside and outside education cannot so easily be explained away.

"If things are going so well, why are people so worried?"

The report, Community Soundings, identified a series of widely held concerns such as, that children "are under intense and perhaps excessive pressure from the policy-driven demands of their schools and the commercially-driven values of the wider society".

It also found fears that life for young children outside school "is increasingly insecure and, in many areas, dangerous". It also said people fear that the pressures of school Sats tests for 11-year-olds dominate the last two years of primary education and distort the curriculum.

A spokeswoman for Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "We are committed to improving the lives of children and young people right across the country and we are making substantial progress.

"The Government does not share the view that children are over-tested. Tests help parents and teachers monitor the progress of children and ensure they get the help they need."