Editorial: Schools must face up to their duty to society

This responsibility for helping to keep one of society's toughest problems in check comes ahead of more mainstream requirements on schools to deliver the Every Child Matters outcomes. Guidance is pending for schools to implement their duty to promote pupils' wellbeing, as set out in the Education and Inspections Act 2006. So too are details of how indicators of schools' contribution to wellbeing will be incorporated in Ofsted's new school inspections framework, which takes effect in September 2009.

Some of the dinosaurs of the teaching establishment are showing stubborn resistance to wider inspections. They argue teachers should not be responsible for addressing problems in society that unravel outside their grounds. Well, try telling that to a youth worker. Indeed, as children's minister Beverley Hughes said last week, schools are uniquely placed to attend to wellbeing as they are the only truly universal service and have daily contact with children and young people.