07 March 2003
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has admitted that the national curriculum is suffering, particularly in sports and modern languages, because teachers are too focused on targets.
Speaking on March 5, Clarke said some preparation for testing was legitimate but it would be excessive to coach pupils. 'I don't think good teachers do that,' he said.
However, although he admitted that too many targets across the public sector were 'not coherent', he remained committed to the idea of goals to check on failing performance.
He said: 'There are those who say there is not much you can do with a certain type of school, but that is not right, because at any given level there are wide variations in performance and schools could do better.'
He said too many children were failing to pass their national tests at the end of primary school, which made it 'very difficult for them to recover in later life'.
Clarke denied his comments were a riposte to Ofsted chief inspector David Bell, who last week claimed that his inspectors found targets were now more of a stick than a carrot for many teachers and education authorities, who were feeling cynical and defeated.
But Clarke said ministers and officials would not seek to modify Bell's views. 'It is his duty to say how he sees it. His job is to make criticisms of policy and our job is to get it right,' he added.
PFmar2003
