Pupils under too much pressure to do well - study

London: Children face "excessive" pressure to do well at school and conform to the commercial values of the modern world, a major report found yesterday.

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."

Standards

The researchers conducted 87 in-depth discussion sessions about primary education and related issues with groups of children, parents, teachers and others across England. In all, 750 people took part.

Pupils said they found the national curriculum Sats tests "scary" and felt nervous and under pressure to do well.

But they also understood the tests provided important evidence of how they are progressing. Professor Alexander said ministers may need to accept that improving school "standards" - through tests and Ofsted judgments - was not the same thing as raising the quality of education.