School desks and chairs are too small for today’s generation of taller and fatter children, who are at risk of developing backache as a result, research suggests.

A policy commission on the future of education, led by Charles Clarke, the former Education Secretary, gave a warning that children’s schoolwork could suffer as back pain caused by unsuitable furniture distracted their attention and caused absence from school.

This in turn was “storing up problems” for the future workforce.

“Sitting for extended periods on chairs that are of inappropriate size and that lack ergonomic design, and at desks or tables whose height relative to the chair is incorrect will be uncomfortable, will reduce attention and is recognised as a major cause of back pain in adolescence and later life,” the report gave warning.

Dominic Savage, director general of The British Educational Suppliers Association, (BESA), which set up and funded the report, said that standard school furniture was based on measurements made in the 1960s, when children were smaller and thinner.

“Not only are children today slightly taller, but crucially the variety of heights within any given age cohort is now much more dramatic,” he said.

Research by the Furniture Industry Research Association, (FIRA),comparing the measurements of 1,500 children in 2001 with data from 1971, found that average heights of children are increasing at the rate of 1cm a decade, with most of the growth occurring in the lower leg. Children’s arms are growing at an even faster rate now ten to 15 per cent longer than they were 30 years ago.

FIRA took the results of its child measurements to the standards bodies of Europe. This resulted in a new European Furniture Standard EN1729, which, both FIRA and BESA are urging manufacturers and schools to adopt.

Mr Savage admitted it would be expensive for schools to buy new, adjustable furniture, but believed it would result in long term savings.

Typically, schools can buy a standard plastic bucket chair for £7 to £8 and a plain table for £30. An adjustable chair and table set, would cost £140 to £150.

Alan Gardner, a retired orthopedic surgeon and a trustee of the charity BackCare, said agreed that adjustable furniture was now vital. “You can have a one metre difference in height between a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, so you need adjustable furniture,” he said.

But Tim Coles, Professor of Medical Statistics at University College London’s Institute of Child Health, said that rising obesity was likely to be a bigger cause of back problems for children than an increase in height. Between 1995 and 2003, the prevalence of obesity among children aged two to ten increased from 9.9 per cent to 13.7 per cent.

“Getting fat thighs under desks will become progressively more difficult for children, and that will not be comfortable,” he said. David Fann, head teacher of Sherwood primary school in Preston, Lancashire, took delivery yesterday of a new set of tables and chairs, which are slightly larger than the ones they are replacing.

He noted there was a far greater variety of sizes among any particular cohort of his pupils than in the past.

“Some parents are more aware than others about the need for a good diets and for exercise. It’s a shame that free milk and fruit available for infants it not available higher up in the school,” he said.

But Brian Lightman, principle of St Cyres school in Penarth, Wales, and a past president of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he doubted that furniture size was a major issue in most secondary schools.

“The real issue is that classrooms are too small for all the computers and other equipment we now want to put into them. This is not being taken into account in all the new school building programmes.

“Even if we wanted bigger chairs and tables, we wouldn’t have room for them,” he said.

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