Fury at minister's attack on schools

The education Secretary, Estelle Morris, reopened the row over bog-standard comprehensives yesterday by saying there were some schools she would "not touch with a barge pole".

Her comments provoked a furious response from the teaching unions, still angry at the "bog-standard" label given to schools last year by Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's spokesman.

In a speech for the Social Market Foundation think-tank, Ms Morris called for an end of "ready-to-wear, off-the-shelf comprehensives". She said: "I know that all secondary schools are not identical. As a teacher, I go into some schools and think 'I would like to work here' but there are some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole."

Ms Morris taught at an inner-city comprehensive in Coventry for 18 years before becoming an MP in 1992. She is a member of the National Union of Teachers.

Doug McAvoy, the NUT general secretary, said her comments would demoralise staff working in the most challenging schools. "This is an outrageous statement which ill-becomes the Secretary of State for Education," he said. "There will be many wondering if they are in a school the Education Secretary wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Her statement will leave many of them asking if she would not teach here, why should they."

Ms Morris insisted she was not criticising teachers but said comprehensives had confused "excellence with elitism", placing too much emphasis on uniformity in their attempts to treat children equally. They had failed to break the link between poverty and academic under-achievement, she added.