Fifty schools across six counties have been sent guidance covering emotion-related subjects that ought to be taught in secondary schools and activities that could encourage class discussions.

The Government has embarked on the pilot after several primary schools reported a drop in “serious incidents” and exclusions since receiving the “emotional intelligence” toolkit.

Critics have complained, however, that the move shifts the responsibility of parenting on to schools and puts a further pressure on teachers.

Worry boxes are just one example suggested by the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning guidance to get a class to discuss feelings, be it in English or PE. Officials hope that, if students post their concerns in a box and talk about them in class, they will be more open to learning about sympathy, self-restraint and kindness.

In June, the Department for Education and Skills sent out 221 pages of guidance to thousands of primary schools, covering 14 areas, under the titles “new beginnings”, “getting on with falling out” and “good to be me”.

Teachers are not expected to have separate classes in emotional literacy, nor for children to be examined on them, but to feed the guidance through everyday classes and raise awareness of good behaviour. Since September, Ofsted inspectors have also begun asking children about the approach to bullying of their school.

John Dunford, the secretary-general of the Secondary Heads Association, yesterday agreed that it was the duty of schools to help children to understand “emotional literacy”.

“It’s not fair to say that parents are failing. Some are, of course, better than others,” he said, “but schools are not just academic institutions and they have always tried to help children grow up with a good emotional understanding of people around them.”

Of ten Southend schools, eight reported reduced truancy, nine reported fewer fixed-term exclusions and at least seven reported improvements in learning in English and maths.

In Plymouth, three schools reported a “drop in serious behaviour incidents” and in repeat fixed-term exclusions.

However, a spokesman for the National Union of Teachers said that teachers did not need to be burdened with extra parental responsibilities: “This concentration on schools adds up to some parents’ assumptions that their children are someone else’s responsibility.”

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