School challenge money 'misused'

Ministers say they do not want to hear excuses about what they call poor performance

Head teachers are accusing ministers of misallocating public funding aimed at raising GCSE standards in more than 600 secondary schools in England.

The National Association of Head Teachers expressed astonishment that only a quarter of the £400m is for teaching, learning and study support.

Far more, £260m, is to create academies and trusts among the 638 schools below the government's "floor target".

This is 30% of pupils attaining five good GCSEs including English and maths.

The rest of the funding (£40m) is for advisers and leadership support.

The union's general secretary, Mick Brookes, said diverting 75% of the additional money away from the classroom was "a colossal error" that must be reconsidered.

'Outraged'

In a statement the NAHT council said: "It must be blatantly obvious that targeting funding towards the classroom is the best way of bringing the resources and support to young people who have real difficulty in accessing learning."

Its concern was that the "National Challenge" programme was really a device to pursue a policy focused on structures not standards.

"School communities are outraged that they are labelled as 'failing' when on every other count, many of these schools are performing well, mostly in the most difficult of circumstances," it said.

Many of the schools were operating in areas of academic selection so the arbitrary 30% figure might be unattainable for some

"The NAHT would urge politicians from all parties to think twice before making headline catching statements that only serve to further undermine and demoralise school communities that struggle to create a positive identity, a can-do culture and a sense of pride."

When he threw down the challenge, England's Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: "I don't want to see excuses about poor performance - I want to see clear plans to raise standards."

He gave local authorities until the end of the summer term in a couple of weeks to devise the improvement plans.