Schools 'got better' under Blair

The report concludes there have been improvements in primaries

England's schools have improved in the 10 years Tony Blair has been in power but it is hard to say by how much, an educational charity report says.

A survey of the performance of schools and pupils in the past 10 years says test and exam results have risen.

But the Sutton Trust report, by Prof Alan Smithers, says monitoring has been in the hands of government, which has a vested interest in talking of success.

Ministers say improvements are clear to see and that monitoring is "robust".

Both Prof Smithers, of the University of Buckingham, and the trust call for a new independent body to monitor the performance of England's school system both over time and relative to other countries.

'Evidence of improvement'

The research looked at how England's schools were doing in terms of test results and compared them with other countries.

On the national tests, it concludes that there has been "an appreciable improvement in the test scores of children both at the end of primary school and secondary school".

It is so hard to say with certainty what the extent of any progress has been Prof Alan Smithers

But it goes on to say there have been "challenges as to whether these scores signify real improvements in education".

Professor Smithers says that when scores in the national tests are compared with independently set tests, the latter do not show the same rate of progress.

However, he concludes that "in primary schools there is nonetheless evidence of improvement - more in maths than in reading".

"Our overall assessment of the impact of Blair's 10 years in office on school education is - tentatively - that some progress has been made during the decade," the report says.

"However, this assessment is inconclusive as it is so hard to say with certainty what the extent of any progress has been.

"Test and examination scores have gone up, but the monitoring has been largely under government control and it has had a vested interest in the results."

'Politicised'

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said the difficulty of assessing England's educational achievements meant there was a need for a different approach.

"English schools perform a little above average compared with other countries, while English independent schools are at the top of the international league table.

"However, there is no other advanced country where the gap in performance between independent and state schools is as large as in the UK which is why it is important that they are opened up to the 90% of families who cannot afford them.

"These school statistics have become so politicised that it is time to consider an independent watchdog which, among other things, would assess the educational performance of schools.

"Such a body would serve the interests of the public at large, not the vested interests of a particular government, with particular educational policies at stake."

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "We welcome the recognition by a prominent critic of the government, Professor Alan Smithers, that English schools have improved over the last decade.

"It would indeed be hard to conclude otherwise given that there are now 95,000 more 11-year-olds achieving the target level for their age in English and 83,000 more in mathematics compared with 1997."

He said monitoring was already robust, adding: "The independent Qualifications and Curriculum Authority ensure that testing is vigorous and that courses remain as tough as ever and Ofsted check that standards of teaching and discipline in the classroom are maintained.

"International studies have recorded genuine improvements in our schools."