14 March 2008
Schools face increased pressure to produce good exam results after the chancellor brought forward the government's GCSE target by a year.
Alistair Darling announced a £200m funding package to ensure that by 2011 no school should have fewer than 30% of its pupils achieving five A*-C GCSE grades, including English and maths — a target originally set for 2012. Currently, 638 schools miss this benchmark.
'If we are to compete in the future it is essential to do even more to drive up standards in education and to improve skills,' Darling said. 'By 2011, we will ensure that every school is an improving school.'
The London Challenge programme, which offers disadvantaged schools intensive, tailored support, is to be rolled out nationally to help meet the target.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families will publish a detailed strategy for the National Challenge programme in May and councils will be expected to have a plan for their low-attaining schools by summer.
The DCSF said the support could take a variety of forms, from the buying in of additional support for problem areas to strong schools receiving funding to help a weaker one develop. Schools that do not meet the target by 2011 will be subject to formal intervention.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: 'There are still too many schools where under a third of pupils get five good GCSEs…
'No schools should accept low attainment as the status quo and we will give teachers the tools and support to make long-lasting change.'
But head teachers were quick to remind ministers that the government's measure of school achievement had its flaws.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'There are not 638 failing schools: there are 638 schools below the government's ever-increasing floor target… Of these schools, 250 are performing above average when contextual data is taken into account. That is, the pupils in those schools are already doing better than expected, given their specific needs and backgrounds.'
PFmar2008
