Violence and poor relationships with teachers puts English children 14th out of 15 countries surveyed for happiness at school as charity calls for action

Children in England are unhappier at school than their peers in almost every other country included in a new international survey, with widespread bullying causing huge damage to their wellbeing.

An estimated half a million 10- and 12-year-olds are physically bullied at school, according to a study by the Children’s Society, which found that 38% of children surveyed had been hit by classmates in the last month.

In an international comparison of children’s happiness in 15 countries, the report concluded that children in England were unhappier with their school experience than their peers in 11 other countries, including Ethiopia and Algeria.



The findings, which are outlined in the Children’s Society’s annual Good Childhood report, carried out in collaboration with the University of York, paint an alarming picture of children’s experiences at school in England, and their wider sense of wellbeing.



We need to find a way to make young people feel happier about their lives to avoid storing up problems for the future Matthew Reed, Children’s Society chief executive

Matthew Reed, chief executive of the Children’s Society: “It is deeply worrying that children in this country are so unhappy at school compared to other countries, and it is truly shocking that thousands of children are being physically and emotionally bullied, damaging their happiness. School should be a safe haven, not a battleground.”

According to the report, children who were bullied frequently were six times more likely to have a low sense of wellbeing than children who had not been bullied.

Children in English schools were also the most likely to have experienced being left out by classmates in the last month, with half of all those questioned complaining of feeling excluded. Boys were 50% more likely to have been hit by classmates than girls, while girls were 40% more likely to have felt left out.

On average, 11% of children said they were dissatisfied with school life, with particularly poor relationships with teachers upon which England was ranked 14th out of the 15 countries. They were also unhappy about what they were learning (11th in the rankings) and with their classmates (12th).

The study also reveals that children in England are particularly unhappy about their appearance. Girls came bottom in terms of their satisfaction with their appearance and self-confidence compared with girls elsewhere, with the exception of South Korea.



They were more than twice as likely as boys to feel unhappy with their bodies (18% compared with 8%), with few other countries in the study showing the same gender difference.

The report also highlights the difference in children’s experience of primary and secondary schools with children in year six, the top year of primary, much more likely to say they enjoy going to school (61%), compared with just 43% in year 8.

The international research is based on a survey of 53,000 children aged 10 and 12 in England, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Poland, Estonia, Spain, Turkey, Romania, Algeria, South Africa, Israel, Ethiopia, Colombia and Nepal.

We are one of the richest nations in the world yet the happiness of our children is at rock bottom Matthew Reed

Overall, it concludes that children in England are unhappier with their lives than those in 13 other countries including Israel and South Africa, with only South Korea lagging behind.

Interestingly, however, the report points out that children in England have relatively high satisfaction with five particular aspects of their life – their friendships, money, possessions, their relationships with relatives they don’t live with and their local police.

As a result of its findings, the Children’s Society is calling on the government to make it mandatory for schools in England to provide counselling to pupils, and is urging schools to help children’s wellbeing by tackling bullying and promoting physical exercise.

“Despite a long period of austerity, we are one of the richest nations in the world yet the happiness of our children is at rock bottom,” said Reed. “They are unhappy at school and are struggling with issues around their appearance and self-confidence.

“We know that this is related to their mental health and can prevent them flourishing. We need to urgently find a way to make young people feel happier about their lives to avoid storing up problems for the future. Giving children a happy childhood should be our top priority.”

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Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, of the department of social policy and social work at the University of York, said: “Although we know from previous work that most children in England are positive about their lives, these comparisons show where we could be doing better for our children.

He added: “Children are our future. Their wellbeing matters to us all. As a nation we pay enormous attention to the wellbeing of our economy, the state of the weather, sporting league tables, the City and the stock market.

“Indicators of these take up pages of the media every day. We need to make more effort to monitor the wellbeing of our children and we need to devote more resources to understanding how they are doing and to ensuring that their childhood is as good as it can be.”

Children’s mental health has become a key issue for campaigners in recent years, with concerns about cutbacks in adolescent mental health services. Lucie Russell, of the mental health charity, YoungMinds, said not enough was being done to support children facing enormous pressures including stress at school, body image issues and cyberbullying.

“We just cannot ignore that in Britain so many children are suffering. These findings must not be dismissed as simply an inevitable part of growing up. Children in England are worryingly falling a long way behind in their level of happiness in comparison to other countries and action must be taken to address this.

“It is vital that we invest in early intervention services so that we provide support for children and young people when they first start to struggle. Too often children have to wait until their problems hit crisis point before any kind of help kicks in. ”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest There have been calls to do more to help young people in the face of adolescent mental health cuts. Photograph: Alamy

Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “There needs to be the time devoted in the curriculum to preventing bullying through challenging negative attitudes. The lessons learned make a significant difference to pupils’ attitudes, not only during their school career but throughout their adult life as well.”



He also accused the government’s accountability agenda of putting pressure on children. “Children can now expect to be branded ‘failures’ when barely into primary education, and many of those who undergo high-stakes tests and examinations at all stages of school life experience serious stress-related anxiety.”

A government spokesperson said: “The best schools create a happy, safe and supportive environment for children, laying the foundations for fulfilment in adulthood. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and all schools must have measures in place to tackle it. That is why we are providing more than £7m to help schools tackle bullying head on.

“We are also promoting greater use of counselling in schools, improving teaching about mental health, and supporting joint working between mental health services and schools. This will ensure children can thrive both inside and out the classroom.”

The Children’s Society is a national charity which works with vulnerable children and young people and campaigns on their behalf.

‘Bullying is soul-destroying’



Tamanna Miah is 22 and in her third year at university, but still carries the emotional and physical scars from the racial bullying she suffered throughout primary and secondary school.

Her family are from Bangladesh and she grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent, where she was the only non-white child in her primary school. The bullying started almost as soon as she began school, she says, around the age of four.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tamanna Miah says she was bullied from the time she started primary school onwards. ‘They did everything to make my life hell.’ Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

“I was the only Asian kid in my area and in my school. People used to bully me for my looks, my skin colour ... they did everything to make my life hell. They called me names, put sticks and rubbish and chewing gum in my hair.

“They would chase me and throw things at me. They pushed me off a wall. Even today I’ve still got the marks on my leg from when that happened. Staff often ignored it. They would say I was being silly, that I was making it up.”

Miah was so unhappy at school her parents had to drive her there “kicking and screaming”; she would pretend to be ill and try to hide to avoid going to school. She began to lose confidence in the way she looked and used her mother’s skin products to try to lighten her skin so she would “fit in” with her peers.

Bullying has changed her life, she says. “It’s soul-destroying, it really is. I know how much I suffered and I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it. I suffered severe depression and anxiety as a result. I was so isolated.



“I had no confidence, I had no self-esteem. I couldn’t talk to my parents and my teachers didn’t understand. I felt suicidal a lot of the time.”

Far from school being a safe haven, Miah believes children feel particularly vulnerable there, and that teachers don’t realise how much of an impact experiences of bullying have on a child’s wellbeing.

“You should be feeling safe – you spend such a lot of your life at school. But you are open to so much there. You’re meeting other young people. You have to be there. You are there on a daily basis.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Boys are 50% more likely to be hit than girls. Photograph: TMO Pictures/Alamy

Miah believes her grades suffered as a result of the bullying, which was a constant distraction from her studies. Now she campaigns on issues surrounding bullying and has made a film to show what it’s like to be a victim.

“These days schools do have more policies in place but it’s almost like bullying is a normal part of childhood. We need to break out of that. It’s not normal. I don’t think people realise how detrimental it is.”

