Schools told to set targets for results

Government pushes pilot schemes to improve performances

All schools should set performance targets and try to improve on them, the Prime Minister said yesterday. The first pilots will begin in schools later this year.

John Major's announcement follows one by John Redwood, Secretary of State for Wales, this month in which he said all Welsh schools should be setting targets by the turn of the century. Mr Redwood issued a consultation paper which said schools that failed to meet their targets would receive an immediate visit from inspectors.

The Department for Education in England has not so far followed Mr Redwood's lead. Last night a spokesman said: "The department encourages all schools to set targets. We shall be involved in the choice of pilots for the inner cities."

Labour-controlled Birmingham is already pioneering school performance targets.

Under Mr Redwood's scheme, primary schools would have to agree literacy and numeracy targets while secondary school would aim to increase the proportion of pupils getting good GCSE grades in English, maths and science.

In Birmingham, by contrast, schools are asked to volunteer for their scheme.

Meanwhile, an inquiry into whether GCSE and A-level standards have slipped was proposed last night by Chris Woodhead, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector for Schools.

Mr Woodhead told the Commons Education Select Committee that he wanted to end the annual debate over standards at GCSE and A-level exams, which start next month for thousands of 16- and 18-year-olds.

Traditionalists say the exams are getting easier. Teachers and pupils say results are improving because they are working harder. Mr Woodhead said he was talking to Government exam advisers about setting up an inquiry which he hoped would report in about nine months. The investigation would be carried out by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, headed by Sir Ron Dearing.

In reply to a question from David Lidington, Tory MP for Aylesbury, about whether there had been real improvement in exam standards, he said: "I am agnostic . . . Young people get these qualifications each year and immediately there is a debate about whether their currency has been devalued."

Labour MPs accused Mr Woodhead, who is independent of the Government, of being a Conservative stooge after a clash over the amount of resources available to schools.

Mr Woodhead said in his annual report that overall the provision of resources was satisfactory. Gerry Steinberg, Labour MP for Durham, said anyone visiting schools could see there was a funding crisis.