Could do better

After five years in power, how far is Labour from fulfilling its promises on schools? Here we give the end-of-term assessments of those at the heart of the system ? followed by our own grades.

Children's reading and writing are better than ever, teachers' pay has improved and billions of pounds are being pumped into the shabby educational infrastructure. These should be good times for teachers as they pack up for the end of term, and happy days for Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education. Tomorrow, the Chancellor will announce another big increase in school spending, said to be around £10bn, making her department the biggest winner in the comprehensive spending review.

Yet, for all the positive announcements pouring out of Sanctuary Buildings – Ms Morris's control centre in Westminster – there is an unmistakable note of tension. Headteachers are far from convinced by this rosy account. And Barry Sheerman, the chair of the parliamentary education committee, summed up the views of many last week when he said "there's still a feeling the system hasn't delivered".

Discipline is getting worse by all objective measures. Thousands of 16-year-olds continue to leave with inadequate qualifications. Schools remain short of well-qualified staff. Even the much-trumpeted success of the national literacy strategy is coming under question, with independent analysis from Durham University concluding that there has been little, if any, real progress in reading standards.

In part ministers are victims of their own commendable ambition. It has been impossible to ignore a whirlwind of activity from numeracy strategies to "fresh start" secondary schools, to vocational A-levels. Millions of pounds have been spent on leaking roofs and billions more on inner cities.

And it is in the cities where the Government feels most vulnerable, where teachers cannot afford to live and do not want to work, and where the middle classes refuse to educate their children. After five years in power there are still schools that seem impervious to the battering ram of government education policy, schools that Ms Morris would not touch with a barge pole.

Recruiting teachers

There are more trainees, starting salaries have risen and schools can call on 26,000 additional support staff. But this still leaves major shortages. The profession is ageing and keeping hold of younger staff seems impossible. Nearly two-thirds of newly qualified teachers quit after just three years. The cost of accommodation is another burden, particularly in London.

Charlotte Jordan teaches English at Phoenix High School in Hammersmith, west London. After three years in the job her salary is £23,500, not enough to afford a home. So she shares with a well-paid friend who works in the City. "If my friend decides to move out, I'm stuck. I won't be teaching for too much longer unless things improve."

Crumbling classrooms

Boilers have been repaired, shabby textbooks replaced and thousands of new computers installed. Capital investment has risen from £683m in 1997 to £2.4bn and the physical conditions are notably better. There are substantial differences in funding between schools, with much of the cash directed towards those willing to sign up for government initiatives. But schools have no freedom how they spend it. So there may be plenty of cash for new whiteboards, but no teachers to write on them.

Children at Sherwood Junior School in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, have a brand new £27,000 playground. And soon they will be able to open and shut the windows thanks to £23,000 of reglazing. "The current windows have been there for 70 years," says Mick Brookes, the head. "It's hot in the summer and draughty in the winter. My only worry is what's going to happen next year. We've might have been reglazed, but we may well have to lose a teacher."

Problem schools

The gap between the strongest and the weakest is still growing. There are hundreds of secondaries where fewer than a quarter of the pupils get five good GCSEs (grades A*-C). Ministers are trying to redefine comprehensives, introducing more academic specialisms, limited selection and city academies with greater freedom. But this means the well-to-do are free to choose successful schools, leaving the rest to struggle.

Marion Davies, from Plumstead in south-east London, was planning to educate her daughter Abigail at home until property millionaire David Garrard sited the Bexley Business Academy, a new city academy, near by. "It's a shame

this sort of school wasn't around

when I was growing up. It's strong on courtesy and respect. The teachers are dedicated. This school is giving our children the chance to learn."

Sixth-form jungle

The rushed introduction of AS-levels caused misery for thousands of sixth formers last year. Things were better this time, but schools and students say the sixth form has become an exams marathon. The Government has introduced vocational A-levels, and promised to bring about a coherent 14-19 curriculum. But fear of abolishing GCSEs and A-levels, and snobbery against students who don't go to university has left what heads call "a dog's dinner".

Matthew Lowther has just finished taking 20 or so AS-level papers in music, drama, philosophy and psychology at the Blue Coat School in Walsall. At 17 he feels he is on a treadmill. "It's no fun knowing you're only studying for an exam rather than for the love of the subject. The teachers are frustrated. Everyone's under so much pressure."

Academic standards

Ministers have won approval for their literacy and numeracy strategies at primary school. Yet while the average child has improved, one in four still leaves primary school struggling to read. A similar achievement gap remains at GCSE. Estelle Morris has aimed a new national teaching strategy at Key Stage 3, the 11-14-year-olds.

"There's some progress, but nothing like what's being claimed," says Ted Wragg, Professor of Education at the University of Exeter. "There's been little or no change in scores on standardised tests. There is also a narrowing of the curriculum. A future Shakespeare who's been through a thousand literacy hours would write 'to be or not to be' as 'a positive and a negative infinitive'."

Disruptive children

A genuine desire to stamp out misbehaviour has been spoiled by mixed messages. First ministers demanded that schools stop expelling disruptive children. Then in January they changed direction, telling schools they should kick out thugs after all. A mother has been sent to jail for condoning truancy. Police are stationed in some schools, and £600m has been put into special units for problem children.

Emotional problems among pupils are now common. "Behaviour is the biggest reason that people are leaving the profession," says Roger Kirk, a supply

teacher in Nottinghamshire

and senior member of the NASUWT union. "It's not just secondary schools. We have cases where teachers have been bitten and kicked at primary school. We had one recently where a primary child ran across the room and jumped head-first into the headteacher's chest."