Number of failing schools rises by 5 per cent

Ofsted said that by the end of the spring term, 256 schools in England were in "special measures" - the inspectorate's lowest category.

This represented a five per cent increase in just three months, from 243 schools in special measures at the end of December last year.

Schools in special measures are judged to be failing to give their pupils an adequate education. They face being closed down if they do not improve quickly enough.

By the end of the spring term, 179 primary schools were in special measures, eight more than at the end of December.

And four more secondaries were in special measures, taking the total to 52, with one more special needs school also in the failing category.

The latest figures follow a dramatic rise in the number of failing schools in the autumn term last year.

Inspectors said the rise last term was partly because there were fewer schools in a position to be removed from the special measures category.

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: "The number of schools removed from special measures in the spring term 2007 was lower than in previous terms because very few schools were made subject to special measures in the spring and summer terms 2005, and it normally takes around two years for schools to improve sufficiently to be removed from special measures."

In London, the number of schools told that they must improve or face closure in the first three months of this year rose from 22 to 25.

Teachers' unions insisted parents should not be panicked into thinking there were huge numbers of incompetent schools. National Union of Teachers leader Steve Sinnott said: "If you raise the bar, then it is inevitable that you are going to increase the number of schools not achieving the new level.

"Many schools are now being put in special measures who, two years ago, would not have been.

"It ends up being an unfair representation of what schools are about. For schools in London, with the huge number of languages and complex social backgrounds from which many of their pupils come, this makes life doubly difficult and such assessments even more unjust."

But one expert who advises MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee said it was only right that Ofsted had "raised the bar".

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: "It does look as though a significant number of children aren't getting the education that we would want them to."

Professor Smithers said the fact that more secondary schools were failing gave ministers the excuse they needed to increase the number of city academies.

"It could be that the government won't be so unhappy about this finding because it gives further impetus to a policy that is very close to its heart," he said. "But if that benefits children, then it's all to the good."