England's primary schools are being set a new target for the performance of their 11 year olds in the national tests.

The government's expectation is that, by 2004, 85% will reach the appropriate level for their age in both English and maths.

English results

2000: 75% 2001: 75% Targets 2002: 80% 2004: 85%

For the first time there is also a target for how many children will out-perform the group - reaching a higher level of attainment than they are expected to at their age.

Ministers think that, by 2004, 35% can reach the next level. Last year 28.3% did so.

Head teachers say the new targets are too ambitious and schools should ignore them.

The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Hart, said he was still not sure whether schools would even meet the previously-set targets for this year's performance.

Maths results

2000: 72% 2001: 71% Targets 2002: 75% 2004: 85%

Those existing targets are that in the tests sat nationwide this May, four out of five pupils will hit the expected level in English, and three quarters in maths.

The Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, said many schools had made great progress since 1998 but some were still not "enabling pupils to achieve their full potential".

"I know that some schools are concerned about the challenging level of these targets, particularly following last year's disappointing Key Stage 2 results," she said.

"But I am confident that we will see further improvements in results this year, which will provide a good platform for achieving the 2004 targets."

Maths results down

Last year three quarters reached the English level - the same as in the year before.

The maths achievement actually fell last year by one point, to 71%.

The former education secretary, David Blunkett, had said he would resign from that post if the 2002 targets were not met.

His successor, Estelle Morris, declined to pick up that pledge when she took over last year.

Her department counts the results of private prep schools which have chosen to do the tests when it announces how well schools have done, even though it does not set targets for them or itemise their results.

The effect of this is to inflate the national results by one percentage point - so last year's maths score in state schools was 70% and English was 74%.

More than a third of pupils in private schools are classified as higher achievers, compared to about one in six in state schools.

Unions scathing

David Hart was astonished by the 85% target, which he said schools would find very difficult to meet.

The government has a cheek setting new targets just as it becomes apparent that teacher morale is at an all-time low Tory spokesman Damian Green

"It's extremely challenging. It would require a massive leap for the lowest-performing local education authorities to achieve so will put intolerable pressure on the schools," he said.

Doug McAvoy of the National Union of Teachers said the new targets were "nonsense".

"The government's independent evaluator, Michael Fullan, warned that the targets were narrowing the curriculum and placing excessive burdens on teachers, adding to their stress," he said.

And the second biggest teachers' union, the NASUWT, said the targets could backfire by driving teachers out of the profession.

'Out of touch'

"His advice has been ignored."

Schools would be forced to concentrate their efforts on getting children just below the expected level onto it - spending less time and resources on children working at lower levels, he added.

The Shadow Education Secretary, Damian Green, said: "The government has a cheek setting new targets just as it becomes apparent that teacher morale is at an all-time low precisely because of government interference and bungling.

"We all want higher standards, but to expect schools to achieve these when they are wading through the government's red tape shows how far from the real world the Department for Education is."

How it works

The government announces its overall targets, then looks at the performance of local education authorities, which varies widely.

It then allocates targets to each authority - ranging from 96% down to 78%.

Authorities then repeat this process with their schools, knowing that some will be able to do better than others.

They can overdo it. It is not unknown, for example, for Ofsted inspectors to come in to a school and observe that its targets are unrealistically high and should be renegotiated.

The National Association of Head Teachers is advising its members to agree targets for their own schools which they regard as "challenging but realistic".

The children are also tested on their knowledge of science, but the government has not set targets for that subject.

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The table below shows the targets set for each of England's local education authorities:

Local education authority	English	Maths
Barking and Dagenham	83	85
Barnet	87	87
Barnsley	83	83
Bath and North East Somerset	88	88
Bedfordshire	86	85
Bexley	85	85
Birmingham	83	83
Blackburn with Darwen	83	82
Blackpool	84	83
Bolton	84	86
Bournemouth	88	85
Bracknell Forest	87	86
Bradford	88	85
Brent	84	85
Brighton and Hove	84	84
Bristol, City of	82	80
Bromley	90	87
Buckinghamshire	88	87
Bury	91	89
Calderdale	86	86
Cambridgeshire	87	86
Camden	84	83
Cheshire	88	87
City of London	90	86
Cornwall	*	*
Coventry	85	85
Croydon	85	85
Cumbria	87	87
Darlington	87	87
Derby	85	85
Derbyshire	87	86
Devon	85	85
Doncaster	85	85
Dorset	88	86
Dudley	85	84
Durham	86	86
Ealing	83	81*
East Riding of Yorkshire	88	87
East Sussex	86	85
Enfield	86	86
Essex	85	85
Gateshead	87	86
Gloucestershire	89	87
Greenwich	79	79
Hackney	79	79
Halton	84	86
Hammersmith and Fulham	82	83
Hampshire	89	87
Haringey	81	80
Harrow	85*	83*
Hartlepool	84	83
Havering	88	85*
Herefordshire	88	87
Hertfordshire	89	87
Hillingdon	86	85
Hounslow	83	82
Isle of Wight	85	86
Isles of Scilly	96	96
Islington	80	80
Kensington and Chelsea	85	85
Kent	85	84
Kingston Upon Hull, City of	82	82
Kingston upon Thames	89	87
Kirklees	84	85
Knowsley	85	85
Lambeth	81	82
Lancashire	85	85
Leeds	86	86
Leicester	80	78
Leicestershire	87	86
Lewisham	82	83
Lincolnshire	86	86
Liverpool	84	82
Luton	82	81
Manchester	81	81
Medway	84	81
Merton	85	84
Middlesbrough	83	83
Milton Keynes	83	80
Newcastle upon Tyne	83	80
Newham	78	79
Norfolk	86	85
North East Lincolnshire	85	85
North Lincolnshire	87	87
North Somerset	88	87
North Tyneside	90	90
North Yorkshire	90	89
Northamptonshire	87	87
Northumberland	88	87
Nottingham	80	81
Nottinghamshire	85	85
Oldham	84	84
Oxfordshire	86	87
Peterborough	83	83
Plymouth	83	84
Poole	86	85
Portsmouth	85	82
Reading	85	85
Redbridge	86	85
Redcar and Cleveland	85	85
Richmond upon Thames	90	89
Rochdale	83	83
Rotherham	83	85
Rutland	90	91
Salford	85	84
Sandwell	84	84
Sefton	87	87
Sheffield	84	82
Shropshire	88	88
Slough	87	86
Solihull	90	87
Somerset	86	85
South Gloucestershire	88	88
South Tyneside	87	85
Southampton	85	85
Southend-on-Sea	85	82*
Southwark	83	80
St. Helens	88	87
Staffordshire	87	87
Stockport	88	88
Stockton-on-Tees	86	85
Stoke-on-Trent	81	82
Suffolk	86	85
Sunderland	86	84
Surrey	90	87
Sutton	87	87
Swindon	85	85
Tameside	85	85
Telford & Wrekin	85	85
Thurrock	83	85
Torbay	86	86
Tower Hamlets	82	82
Trafford	87	86
Wakefield	85	85
Walsall	83	81
Waltham Forest	80	81
Wandsworth	83*	83*
Warrington	87	87
Warwickshire	87	85
West Berkshire	88	86
West Sussex	88	86
Westminster	83	84
Wigan	86	86
Wiltshire	85	85
Windsor and Maidenhead	89	89
Wirral	87	87
Wokingham	92	90
Wolverhampton	81	82
Worcestershire	85	85
York	88	87
England	85	85
Note: Asterisks * indicate negotiations are ongoing

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