September 2004     School to Teach Life Lessons

80% of children aged between 6 and 14 want more life learning from school, according to a new survey by Staples.

When asked, what is the most important thing school could teach them, more than three quarters of the children cited emotional learning.

The annual report, which is undertaken by the leading stationery retailer, surveys a number of children across the country on a variety of school related topics as part of its back to school activity.

Of the 80%, 50% said learning how to make friends and get on with children would be high on their list of priorities, another 20% thought it would be useful to learn a positive mental attitude, 10% suggested good manners. The split was even between both boys and girls.

The other 20% thought school subjects such as maths, science and English were vital.

“Demand for teachers to take on a more pastoral role was a strong message from our survey this year,” comments Marketing Manager Donna Chappelle, “more so than last year.”

“The children we have spoken to through the survey want their school to be a place where pupils can learn to become citizens, solve social inequality and be taught life-skills.”

The flipside of this question revealed a more contradictory response. When asked what would you change about your teacher, over 20% of children said they wished they would stop being nosy. 30% said they wished they would have more fun and stop being too serious – and bossy! 10% wished they would have more patience. So maybe their form teacher shouldn’t necessarily be the one teaching them emotional support.

When it comes to school itself 85% of children said they loathe PE – and wouldn’t enjoy it any more if David Beckham or Tim Henman taught it!

More than three quarters of the children thought learning could be made more fun if it involved more interactive play, such as games and drama.

60% of children worry that they won’t be cool enough in school and care about the type of uniform and stationery they carry with them into the classroom. Looking cool was cited as a reason to feel happier.

The Staples stationery expert survey was conducted across the UK amongst 500 pupils aged 6 to 14.