FAMILY conversations have deteriorated into a “daily grunt” that leaves young children unable to talk properly, according to the man in charge of maintaining educational standards in Britain.

Alan Wells blames television and long working hours and fears that thousands of families are becoming like the Royle family, the monosyllabic layabouts in the BBC sitcom, who live in the shadow of the television.

He says that parents should go back to school to relearn how to talk to their offspring in order to counter a sharp drop in primary school pupils’ linguistic abilities.

Mr Wells, director of the Government’s Basic Skills Agency, set out to investigate why pupils reaching primary school age had the worst language skills in memory. Research has shown that in some areas up to half of children aged five lack linguistic ability.

Working-class families are most likely to be affected, but children from affluent backgrounds also suffer because their parents tend to work long hours. Mr Wells also blamed the rise of one-parent families and the end of shared mealtimes, which had ended reasoned discussion of the day’s events.

“At the age when they come into school, many children have very few language skills at all,” he told the North of England Education Conference in Warrington.

“It’s because of the children sitting in front of the television and the computer and the lack of time families spend having food together. It clearly has an impact on their learning.”

Mr Wells said that the splintering of family structures meant that grandparents were less likely to pass on parenting skills or to contribute to the social and intellectual development of their grandchildren.

He said that the agency had pioneered a programme in Wales called Language and Play, to advise parents how to interact with their children, and that introducing it across the country would be a worthwhile investment.

He added that tests for seven and 11-year-olds had damaged their development. “I think the tyranny of tests in schools has become entirely negative,” he said. “The danger is testing, not teaching.”

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