Melanie Miles with children Nicole, Natasha and Georgia Picture Ref: 76997-17CLASSROOM discipline is getting worse because too many children arrive at school without knowing basic social standards, the leader of the National Association of Head Teachers has said.

Giving irresponsible parents more powers over schools would be like putting an alcoholic in charge of a bar, General Secretary David Hart said.

And Phil Baker, the Swindon branch secretary of the ATL teaching union, supports the call for less parent power.

The NAHT believes a promise by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly to boost parent power over schools won't work because parents can't teach their children basic social discipline.

Mr Baker said: "Parents just need to get on with their job, which is to teach their children to be well behaved with an appetite for learning, not for disruption.

"It appears in many homes children are winning the battle over who makes the rules.

"A lot of parents are in fear of their children once they become teenagers. I've seen many swear at their parents to their faces."

He believes parents already undermine the authority of schools by challenging decisions made about children.

"Ever since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher coined the phrase 'parent power' parents feel they have the right to challenge the decisions of teachers and headteachers," he said.

"This undermines the powers that schools have. Because of this, teachers often have to produce more evidence about the behaviour of a child than they would as a police officer in a court of law.

"Parents can now challenge a decision to exclude a child. Many resort to solicitors to do this and can have access to expert advisers.

"Giving parents more power could cause more difficulties. We would not expect patients to tell doctors how to run their practices."

In his speech to the NAHT, Mr Hart said: "The Government's attempts to reinforce the role of parents is a key political strategy.

"But there is a danger that it sends the wrong message one that has parent power, not parental responsibility, written all over it."

But Swindon mum Melanie Miles, 39, whose daughters Nicole, nine, Natasha, eight and Georgia, five, attend Salt Way Primary School, believes parent power is the way forward.

She said: "I think it's great that parents are getting the chance to be more involved in schools.

"In my day parents didn't even enter schools, except on parents evenings, but now we can come into classes and help out and get a lot more chance to have a say.

"I do agree it's partly the parents' fault if children misbehave. But it's also the fault of society and the fact that kids just want to look big in front of their friends."

She believes if parents had had more influence a proposal to close Salt Way might not have happened.

"I think if parents had been more involved it might not have happened," she said."We would have found a way to keep it going."

Diana Milne