Pupils in 'spy' survey

Teaching unions branded the idea “lunacy”, arguing that primary age ­children were too young to give ­reliable answers to the list of questions, drawn up by the education watchdog Ofsted.

Olive Forsyth, of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Children as young as this are not capable of answering a ­survey that requires an emotional response. The answers they get will be ­inaccurate at best, and downright dangerous at times.

“You could easily come across a situation where a child has had a telling off for doing something that morning, then translates this to being beaten up day and night when coming to answer the questionnaire.

“Not only do they not have the emotional maturity to evaluate what happy means, there is also the element of bravado to take into consideration where children give answers for effect and respect among their peers.”

Children aged 10 to 15 are taking part in the project, called Tellus2, organised to help local councils judge how well they are helping vulnerable children.

The “test” is made up of almost 40 questions, some quite complicated in their phrasing, which have confused many younger children.

The survey also asks pupils to give their postcodes.

Ms Forsyth said: “This is utter lunacy. There is absolutely no way they should be asked to provide a postcode for this sort of questionnaire if it is merely for research purposes as it will identify specific homes.

“If children come from difficult homes, the school already knows. It doesn’t take something like this, and it is not the job of school inspectors.”

About 120,000 ­pupils have already completed the Ofsted survey, which is being used to compile a database on children’s lifestyle, health and happiness.

Pupils, who do not need their parents’ permission before taking part, are asked a series of personal questions such as whether they smoke and drink alcohol.

Additional questions include: “Does the mum or step mum that you live with have a paid job?”, “How many people live in your house?” and “How many rooms does your home have?”

Parents fear the scheme will be rolled out nationally unless there is a concerted campaign to have it scrapped.

Others wonder if the questions are intended to trap people who make ends meet by taking in lodgers, or to help councils calculate the new community charge bands.

A 10-year-old pupil at one London primary school left the room in tears after being told to fill in the online questionnaire.

The boy’s classmates were asked about their ethnic backgrounds, with choices which included “gypsy” and “Irish traveller”.

One mother, who asked not to be named, said her daughter had come home terrified that she had not answered the questions correctly.

 She said: “She didn’t understand what she had been asked to do. She didn’t understand what a gypsy was, and since she has never smoked in her life, wondered why she was being asked something like that.

“I wasn’t told that the questionnaire was going to be part of the Ofsted inspection and the children were just confused.

“Some children of divorced parents were asked if they lived in a house with both their parents and didn’t know how to answer. It was terribly unfair on such young, vulnerable children.”

Another mother said: “My son was very agitated when he told me about it. He hadn’t really understood some of the questions and was unsure on many of them how to answer.

“I reassured him that there was nothing he could have said that would get him into any trouble but he is still talking about it to me several weeks after he took the quiz.

“He was being asked to make judgments on things that he had never thought about before. That’s what got him rattled, I think.

“We drink wine at home and my son is given a tiny glass on special occasions – really just a thimbleful diluted with water – but he loves it and feels really grown up.

“He said this on the form and now thinks he will have got me into trouble when he was asked if he was ever given more than a sip of an alcoholic drink.”

Pupils are also asked to “agree or disagree” with the statement that “parents and family look out for me”.

Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: “This is Orwellian – plain and simple spying on people.

“Children should not be asked ­questions like this, let alone asked to give their postcodes so they can be identified.

“This will cause all sorts of misery and there is a danger that parents will end up in trouble with the authorities for something they haven’t done when their child gives his or her answers.”

An Ofsted spokesman insisted that the questionnaire was confidential and participants would not be identified.

He said: “The postcodes will not be made available outside Ofsted and will be used for analysis purposes only.”

Ministers and advisers from the European Parliament are handing out pro-EU literature in schools. The Europa Diary explains the parliament’s position on issues including climate change, solar power and fair trade. UK Independence Party MEP Derek Clark said the move was tantamount to brainwashing youngsters.

He said: “This glossy booklet is selling the EU and to do so by infiltrating schools is appalling.”