School report: Cramped and short of books

FRAN ABRAMS

Education Correspondent

More than 3,000 schools do not have enough books and an even greater number struggle to cope in inadequate buildings, the chief inspector of schools said yesterday. The finding, which follows last year's widespread protests over education funding, is bound to prove embarrassing to the Government.

In his annual report the chief inspector, Chris Woodhead, revealed that 2,700 primary and 1,000 secondary schools did not have enough books. A further 2,700 primary schools, one in seven of the total, and 800 secondaries, one in five, had poor accommodation.

Teachers were forced to work in cramped classrooms or to teach art or science in non- specialist classrooms, he said, and their work suffered as a result. "Teachers who lack proper resources or who work in poor buildings experience problems which at best frustrate and at worst defeat their best efforts to do a decent job," he said. Mr Woodhead's report described the figures as "disturbing" and promised an investigation into whether particular types of schools or areas of Britain were affected by the problems.

His report came as a survey of 77 local authorities by the Campaign for State Education, Case, revealed that one-quarter still had primary schools with outside lavatories.

Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State for Education, denied that a lack of resources was linked to low standards: "It is absolutely clear that the use made of resources is what is important. The report stresses the need for strong financial management and nearly two in five schools should be making better use of their resources."

Mr Woodhead also promised an investigation into mathematics teaching after his report revealed that 1 school in 6 was failing to teach the subject properly to children aged between 7 and 14. Inspectors also found too many 11-year-olds were counting on their fingers, could not use a ruler properly and were making wild estimations when trying to do sums. Inspectors plan to look at themethods used for teaching maths and the extent to which they prepare pupils both for further education and for work.

The majority of lessons were satisfactory or better but standards were at their lowest for pupils aged between 7 and 11. Four out of ten lessons for the under-fives were good or very good, but the figure dropped to less than a quarter for 7- and 8-year-olds, rising again to just over a quarter for 11-year-olds. The figures on standards have fluctuated in recent years without showing any clear trends. But the chief inspector's annual report a decade ago in 1985 said that standards were satisfactory or better in more than four-fifths of both primary and secondary schools.

This year's figure, which may not be comparable because of changes in the inspection process, shows that around 50 per cent of primary schools and two-thirds of secondary schools received favourable judgements.

However, Mr Woodhead said most teachers were confident in handling the national curriculum and that social and moral education was generally good, as were both vocational education and the teaching of children with special educational needs. Pupils achieved well in English in half of all primary schools and in three-fifths of secondary schools, though there was a dip in achievement between the ages of 7 and 14. However, he added, the identification of very good schools showed how wide the gap was between different institutions in similar socio-economic circumstances.

Key facts in the inspectors' report

tOf 203 schools commended for excellence, 24 are grammar schools and 35 have opted out.

tOne-fifth of all lessons in primary schools and in the first three years of secondary schools are unsatisfactory.

tHalf of all primary schools and 4 out of 10 secondary schools must do better.

tInspectors found that 48,000 of the nation's 410,000 teachers were excellent, while 14,700 were poor.

tThe teaching of reading is poor in 1 in 20 infant schools and 1 in 10 junior schools. Maths is taught well in 4 out of 10 primary schools and half of all secondary schools.