WATFORD MP Claire Ward came out in defence of local schools amid criticims there is a crisis in education in a House of Commons debate on Tuesday.

The Labour MP challenged Opposition claims that school standards are falling by highlighting some of the improvements she has seen in Watford schools.

She said: "This does not reflect what is going on in my constituency, which saw 77 per cent of all 11-year-olds reach the level expected of their age in English in 2000.

"That is up from 73 per cent in 1999 and compares with an average of just 75 per cent in England. So we are doing better than the rest of the country."

She had equal praise for the results of the Government's numeracy hour in Watford.

She said: "Some 75 per cent of 11-year-olds in Watford reached the level expected of their age in mathematics tests in 2000. That is up from 72 per cent in 1999."

In the light of a recent tour of Watford's primary schools in September and October, she applauded the work of teachers.

She said: "I am greatly impressed by what those teachers have done.

"By and large, teachers do a fantastic job in what are often very difficult circumstances.

"We should not pretend that thisis the end of the story we should set standards to encourage teachers continually to improve their work."

She told the Commons one example of real improvements was Westfield School in Tolpits Lane.

She said: "There has been a massive improvement in the school over the past four years, thanks to the drive, determination and vision of the head teacher, staff and governors. Westfield is now a specialist technology school. Pupil numbers have risen children go there not because they cannot get in anywhere else but because they and their parents make it their first choice."

However, Hertfordshire County Council's executive member with responsibility for schools and education councillor Robert Gordon (Conservative) said the Government was wrong to take the credit.

Speaking on Thursday, November 8, he said: "Certainly it is the case that measured by Key Stage results, general performance has improved.

"Although nationwide the maths results fell.

"Watford schools, supported by their teachers, do a superb job.

"But what Miss Ward is missing out is the crisis in education in terms of teacher recruitment and retention, a problem we are facing in Hertfordshire as a whole."

He said as a result of the shortage many teachers struggled to cope with heavy workloads exacerbated by Government bureaucracy.

He added: "The teachers we have are doing a thundering good job in difficult circumstances.

"They deserve the credit for this but it is the Government which should get the credit for the emerging crisis in which teachers are struggling."

November 9, 2001 18:30