An unhealthy obsession with celebrity culture is damaging the academic success of British students, a survey of teachers has found, with celebrity couple the Beckhams the favourite inspiration.
Many students are ignoring career aspirations to pursue the chance of fame instead, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) survey found.
Almost two-thirds of teachers said sports stars were the type of celebrity most pupils wanted to emulate while more than half of students wanted to be pop stars.
The celebrities students aspired to be most like, the survey said, were Los Angeles-based David and Victoria Beckham, arguably Britain's most famous couple.
Soccer player "Becks" topped the poll, with more than half the teachers saying their students modelled themselves on the 32 year-old. In second place, with almost a third of the poll's vote, was his 33 year-old wife and pop star "Posh".
In an era of reality television "stars" and a media fixation with celebrities, a majority of teachers sd ceailebrity culture negatively impacted the aspirations of their pupils.
Many bemoaned students who "wanted to be famous for being famous".
Almost half of the 300 teachers polled said pupils tried to look like and/or behave like celebrities they most admired, fuelling fears that girls particularly dressed in "unsuitable", or provocative styles.
"We are not surprised about infiltration of celebrity culture in schools - it reflects the current media obsession with celebrity and the effect of celebrity culture on society as a whole," Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Mary Bousted said in a statement.
"Celebrities can have a positive effect on pupils. They can raise pupils' aspirations and ambitions for the future.
"However ... celebrity culture can perpetuate the notion that celebrity status is the greatest achievement and reinforces the belief that other career options are not valuable."
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard ranked third on the favourites list with 26 percent, actress Keira Knightley fourth (25 percent) and "Doctor Who" star David Tennant fifth (23 percent).
Other celebrities on the list included US heiress and socialite Paris Hilton (sixth) and Leona Lewis, a winner of Britain's "The X Factor" television talent show (ninth).
One primary school teacher from Scunthorpe, in the country's northeast, Elizabeth Farrar, said: "Too many of the pupils believe that academic success is unnecessary, because they will be able to access fame and fortune quite easily through a reality TV show."
David Beckhams former lover Rebecca Loos has re-emerged in a new steamy and topless avatar.
The former secret lover of the ex-England skipper has stripped down to her stockings and suspenders, revealing her stunning new figure in a set of exclusive snaps that are now appearing over the Internet.
Loos has gone from a 28in waist to a tiny 25, reports News of the World.
The 30-year-old beauty said her amazing new shape was down to her time as a cast-away on an island for Spanish reality TV series Survivor.
After shedding the pounds in Spain, Rebecca is now back in London for talks with TV producers about a possible chat show. She’s also hoping to launch her own range of sexy lingerie.
The Rebecca Loos David Beckham “affair” story remains among the most sensational secret affairs of all time.
After Loosing the pounds in Spain, Rebecca is now back in London for talks with TV producers about a possible chat show. She's also hoping to launch her own range of sexy lingerie.
The litany of speculations surrounding Jennifer Aniston's presumed quest for a father to her child continues. The latest to be linked with the 39-year-old is her current co-star Owen Wilson.
The two are currently in Miami on the set of the comedy film Marley and Me in which they play husband and wife.
"The hugging didn't end when the cameras stopped rolling," a crew member told Star. "They were very flirty together, far more than you would expect. In between takes they were hanging onto each other. They are very friendly."
Aniston and Owen have known each other for some time now. In October 2007, while Owen was recovering from the trauma of his suicide attempt in August, Aniston sent him some of her favorite books, including The Power of Now, according to Star.
A friend of Aniston confirms to OK! that the Friends star could be interested in Owen who can make Aniston laugh.
However, says the friend, Aniston continues to be also interested in Vancouver- based Brian Bouma, a key grip she met on the set of Traveling in Vancouver. The two were first linked after being spotted leaving BFF Courteney Cox's house late February.
Aniston and Bouma reportedly keep in touch over the phone and Bouma may visit Miami soon.
So what about sighting of Owen spending some quality time with ex Kate Hudson who was in Miami to attend a film festival?
A friend of says, "He isn't seeing anyone seriously; he wants to keep his options open."
Latest: Actor Neil Patrick Harris is raving about Britney Spears' return to acting - even though the pop star refused to take off her sunglasses for an in-studio read-through.
Spears is playing a secretary opposite Harris in an upcoming episode of U.S.
TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother - and the actor was impressed with the troubled Toxic singer's professionalism when it came time to act.
He says, "She's good. We did the run through on Tuesday, she seemed a little nervous, she wore the big sunglasses the whole time.
"I think that's a bit of a security blanket. But she seems very professional".
And Harris insists that working closely with Spears gave him a special insight into her personal troubles.
He adds, "Being up close to her, she seems like a very sort of fragile, kind of complicated person; it must be very strange to live in her life".
The episode featuring Spears will air in America on 24 March 08.
Meanwhile in seperate news it was reported Britney Spears is "having a blast" in her latest incarnation as a sitcom actress.
The troubled pop star has landed a cameo role in hit show How I Met Your Mother on U.S. cable channel Cbs, which she is shooting in Los Angeles this week
Spears plays a secretary called Abby who falls for the show's lead character Ted
When reporters caught up with the star leaving the CBS lot on Wednesday night (12Mar08), she said, "(The experience) has been so terrific. Everyone, including the cast, the crew and the producers, has been wonderful.
"Abby is such a fun girl to play. I'm having a blast!".
The 'Pearl Harbor' actress - who is regularly voted one of the most beautiful women in the world - claims she was unattractive in her teenage years and hasn't managed to shed her insecurities.
She said: "I was monumentally ugly until I was about 15 so I still have that mindset."
This is not the first time Kate has spoken out about her looks.
The 'Underworld' star - who is married to director Len Wiseman - says she was so concerned about her attractiveness while growing up, she convinced herself no boy would ever be interested in her.
She added: "I grew up feeling and looking like an ugly duckling and that was such a huge part of my self-image. I could not even accept boys paying me attention."
Even though, Kate - who has a nine-year-old daughter, Lily, from a previous relationship - has blossomed into a beautiful woman, she sometimes feels so unattractive she won't leave the house.
She said: "I have days when I feel great, and days when my a** won't fit in my jeans and I don't leave the house."
Watch out Angelina, move over Charlize, step aside Halle. There's a new 'it' girl in Tinseltown. Carlizina. Recently, Worth1000 challenged artists to create the "Ultimate Celebrity" by combining the best facial features of Hollywood's hottest actresses.
"It looks like a real person," says site founder Avi Muchnick of the winning entry. "Some of the others looked a little bit exaggerated, like they were trying to blend pieces that didn't work. But here, [the artist] took different pieces of the individuals that made them attractive, and made them very seamless."
Other entries blended Theron's beautiful nose and mouth with Michelle Pfeiffer's classic cheekbones, or Emma Watson's fresh face with Christina Aguilera's slammin' body.
Jolie's perfect pout popped up on most pictures, along with signature features from Theron, Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry. "Ocean's Eleven's" gorgeous George Clooney and Brad Pitt were the hunk heavyweights.
Still, some submissions managed to look more Frankenstein than fantasy girl. "That one's really creepy," says Muchnick, referring to a mashup of Milla Jovovich, Kate Beckinsale, Keri Russell, Cindy Crawford, Jessica Simpson and Monica Bellucci called Hot Stuff. "It almost looks masculine."
Muchnick's own uber-hottie would include the best sides of Johansson, Jolie and Claire Forlani - as well as his wife, of course. "They have very distinctive eyes - that does include my wife," he says. "They draw attention to the narrowness of their face and highlight how proportional it is. I guess they're all generally pretty. ... I'm going to get in so much trouble when this article comes out!"
The Spice Girl, who is married to film producer Stephen Belafonte, has been feeling broody since the group's world tour finished and wants to have a child with her spouse.
A source said: "Mel is desperate to have another child. She has been broody since she married Stephen in Las Vegas last June. But she wasn't able to start trying for a baby because of the Spice Girls tour."
Mel already has two daughters, nine-year-old Phoenix Chi with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar and 11-month-old Angel Iris with Eddie Murphy.
The 32-year-old singer is determined to get pregnant this year.
The source added to Britain's Closer magazine: "She loves Stephen and her career is finally taking off in the States. She feels like it is the right time for a child."