The role of schools

We have heard a lot in the last few days about the need for school to teach children 'right from wrong'. I don't know a school in the land that doesn't do this as part of its ethos and way of working. (This blog is about schools not parents, so I'll keep my comments on some of the parents we have seen interviewed for a later occasion.) And I've also read demands for schools to do more with young people on 'civics'.

Let's, for the moment, ignore the fact that most schools are good schools and most young people - the large majority, even in Tottenham - are law-abiding and will go up to be effective adults, and concentrate on the few young people who are not. Again, we can't and must not excuse poor behaviour, but broken homes, poverty, teenage pregnancy and all the rest can help us understand why some young people behave as they do. And of course that's what Sure Start is all about - helping childern and their parents from the earliest age.