How can teachers turn the tide alone?

Personally Speaking By George Varnava The acting head of a targeted 'failing school' hits back

The government's decision to "name and shame" Ashburton High School came as a shock to the whole school community. Croydon's own "task group" had been in place for only four-and-a-half months, and the out-of-date evidence used came from a monitoring visit made hardly more than a month after new management had begun its work to accelerate progress and restore confidence. Progress made in the following three months was totally disregarded.

The decision was more surprising still coming from a government with "a passion for education". It was more punitive than passionate. If this government cannot see the difference between punishment and correction, it is unlikely to gain the confidence of the many teachers who voted for it.

Everyone wants high standards, and I do not know of any school that is trying to get worse. Given the declining influence of all social institutions - the family, the Church, youth services, a job for life - schools have become the last providers of stability, continuity, security and a framework of control. Teachers have allowed themselves to be conditioned to accept the many responsibilities associated with children and then, astonishingly, accept the blame for any problems. The reality is that society has all but lost control of its children and expects schools to contain, supervise, protect, occupy, prepare for adult life, instill moral values and guarantee educational standards. How many parents, I wonder, can be certain at any time that they know where their 13-year-old is, what she is doing and who she is with, and how much money she has?

Ashburton High School is a good comprehensive. It provides a professional balance between teaching and learning; in order to convince pupils that effort is required on their part, one of our slogans is "teaching is my business, learning is yours". We are trying to involve parents and the local community in supporting the school by understanding what it does, and by taking their proper share of the important responsibility that all adults carry for children.

Society does give children mixed messages. We blame them for litter, and we are destroying the environment. We expect them to relate well, yet they are bombarded with images of violence. We tell them to value themselves, yet we are materialistic beyond belief. We coerce them to work hard, and we play the Lottery. We have, undeniably, given children more freedom than they can cope with.

Schools are doing their best to counteract the effects of social disruption. Teachers have responded to reform and are trying, against the odds, to give children an appetite for learning. But the more they take on, the less they are respected. Schools have become "social hospitals", and as well as treatment and cure, they also attempt to prevent. But nobody accuses doctors of causing sickness.

The neglect of children in British society is becoming vividly apparent. The UK has the highest divorce rate in Europe. There is an increasing number of children in the care of adults other than their natural parents. There are 250,000 missing persons in Britain, a high proportion of them children. We have failed to instil a learning ethos among children and have assumed that education is the business only of teachers. Our laws permit children to work from the age of 13 - the earliest in Europe.

Even in circumstances of criticism, blame and condemnation, somebody has to remain positive and optimistic.

Teachers, by the very nature of their work, look to the future and encourage progress and improvement. A new government provides a new opportunity to make a genuine commitment to education, recognising that the way to a better world is more likely to be through education than through profit- making. Education deserves generous treatment; no national spending can be more important than the investment in children. Part of that investment must come in the form of support for schools in particular need, rather than their annihilation. A school is part of the wider community, and I would say to that community: "This is not my school, it is yours; these are not my children, they are yours"n

The writer is acting headteacher of Ashburton High School, Croydon, and a former president of the National Association of Headteachers.