I do think that we are at a point when there is a particularly significant mismatch between the prevailing model of parenting; the school curriculum and accountability framework; and the school processes and procedures that allow the delivery of this curriculum.
So (at a grossly generalised way, thinking about primary):
1950s: authoritarian parenting, dry curriculum taught in a ‘chalk and talk’ pedagogy, authoritarian teacher style.
1970s: some more liberal parenting, much more experiential project-based curriculum, a mixture of teacher styles but some less authoritarian, very little accountability for the academic success of the teaching.
2000s: more liberal parenting, but still some respect for authority. Centralised curriculum (previous NC) but still relatively creative. Ofsted and SATs give rise to a much more rigorous, sometimes punitive, accountability regime.
2020s: gentle / permissive parenting style prevalent. Respect from authority highly eroded within society. Gove’s NC harks back to the 1950s, and requires highly didactic chalk and talk methods of delivery. Ofsted and SATs mean that this curriculum must be taught with fidelity, meaning that classroom management is focused on maintaining order during this style of teaching.
There are if course other factors, such as screen addiction, funding and the drive to inclusion between the 1970s and 2000s, that come into play.
It seems to me that today’s permissively-parented children would actually do very well in a 1970s style primary classroom (they might not learn as many facts, but the style would suit them) IF that option was allowed rather than punished within the accountability framework. It’s interesting that most ‘inclusion units’ / ‘nurture groups’ etc within schools that I know do follow a more ‘1970s-like’ routine of more outside time, more collaborative learning, more child-led projects, little focus on chalk and talk.