David Bell: "It's a long haul"

David Bell says there have been improvements in the past decade, but there is still a big gap in achievement between poor and better-off pupils.

His inspectorate, Ofsted, has analysed the performance of inner city schools 10 years on from a key study it made.

He says the gulf has widened in recent years and urgent action - and more money - is needed.

In a speech to the Fabian Society on Thursday, Mr Bell outlined what progress has been made - and say where policies have not worked well enough.

If we had gone on the way things were, I don't think we'd have survived Meet the head teachers who used specialist status to change things

He told the Today programme on BBC Radio Four: "We have taken a 10-year perspective on this.

"In 1993 Ofsted published a report about such schools, and we have looked today and said yes, there is some progress, but it is slow and unsteady in some cases.

"There are schools that are still continuing to struggle 10 years on."

Mr Bell said there were a variety of reasons why this was the case.

He said some schools were physically isolated from their communities and people lost confidence in them.

He also talked of the problems of recruiting and retaining the best staff and of a high turnover of pupils because of the transient population in some city centres.

'No quick fixes'

Mr Bell said some of the government's initiatives had made a difference, but the task was a long-term one.

"There are no quick fix solutions in these schools. It is a long-term investment that is required."

In his speech he will said the government's Excellence in Cities initiative - which targets inner city schools - has made quite a difference in secondary schools.

And he said specialist school status could help drive improvements.

But he warned: "That too is not a panacea. You don't deal overnight with all sorts of a problems in a local community by immediately rebadging yourself as a technology college or a sports college.

"It can be one solution but it is not the only solution."

The Department for Education and Skills said improvements had been made in the inner cities.

A spokesman said "As David Bell himself has pointed out the Excellence in Cities programme has led to significant improvements.

" In actual fact this year's GCSE results show that in EiC areas the number of pupils gaining five or more A*-C at GCSE has improved at twice the national average.

"We have also seen a drastic decline in the number of failing schools. The number of schools with less than 25% of their pupils gaining five A*-C at GCSEs fell from 616 in 1997 to 254 in 2003."

David Bell says the government should consider putting more money into inner city schools.

"I am asking for consideration to be given for extra funding for schools serving the most deprived communities because they do face considerable difficulties," he said.

"But it is a difficult political issue."

The shadow secretary of state for health and education Tim Yeo said: 'The government has spent millions of pounds on initiatives and gimmicks in an attempt to solve the very real crisis in our inner city schools; instead of gimmicks, families need real choice and the chance to access quality schools.

'This Labour government is leaving an ever growing number of children from poorer families behind."

Read a selection of your comments below.

I hope that in 'struggling' spotlight that these schools have now found themselves in, teachers will be given their due credit. Teachers work in a demanding job where their successes are rarely noted let alone praised
Kamal, UK

New initiatives won't do any good until discipline is properly established both in schools and within the local communities Richard Neale, England

David Bell's comments are to be welcomed even though they should have come earlier from any HMCI. Knowing the demoralisation of dedicated teachers in inner city schools - some under special measures provision - some with head teachers who are only too keen to make a name for themselves before moving on leaving someone else to sort out the chaos. It is high time that central government did something to deal with the ever increasing numbers of disaffected children in inner city areas. Any new initiatives won't do any good until discipline is properly established both in schools and within the local communities
Richard Neale, England

Education will not improve until the people going into the teaching profession have any concept of what the "normal" parent (and as a consequence) child has to put up with. They shouldn't start under 25 years of age. Teachers have no concept of what it is like not having a regular wage - theirs appears every month on the dot. Teachers have no understanding of shift or night-working - the stresses and strains this puts on parents and their children.
Dave Fox, England

All schools need to move toward more authentic learning activities to interest students in learning. We have the same problems in U.S. urban schools. Socioeconomic class is a huge indicator of how well students do in school. Until issues of class and substandard living conditions are met, there will continue to be inequities in education.
Jackie A., USA

I am a teacher in a large inner city secondary school. As the ATL quite rightly noted recently, teaching pupils to pass exams is one thing - giving a child an education, now there's a skill. Teachers no longer provide pupils with a quality education. League tables etc have lead to anxiety and stress amongst the profession. RESULTS are now seen as being the most important factor in what you teach and how you teach it. As a result there is a large proportion of children who appear to 'not want to learn'. The job is hard enough when you teach children who do want to learn! Hence the problems within inner city schools. Let's focus on why so many children don't appear to want to learn. Finding the solution to that problem is the answer.
John S, UK

My suspicion is that actually the schools are failing most pupils but better off parents are, like us, spending on extra home tuition. This factor is overlooked by these surveys.
Paul Bond, England