The public accounts committee warned that nearly one million children are receiving a poor standard of education.

After examining evidence from the Department of Education and Skills, and the schools watchdog, Ofsted, it found that even though the number of 'poorly performing' schools has been falling, there are still around 1,500 that fall within this category.

The report also reveals that two city academies singled out by the National Audit Office as poorly performing schools have cost the taxpayer more than £101m.

Stakeholder Response: ASCL

General Secretary of ASCL, Dr John Dunford, said: "The National Audit Office report, on which the Public Accounts Committee has based its conclusions, is flawed and therefore it is misleading and damaging.

"It is entirely wrong and irresponsible for the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh, to talk in sensationalist terms about children’s life chances being ruined.

"Most of these so-called failing schools serve disadvantaged communities where the school is often the only place that improves young people’s life chances.

"School leaders devote their lives to educating and supporting such children and their families and will bitterly resent political games being played with these misinterpreted statistics.

"The report naively assumes that because a school is in the bottom quartile, it is failing.

"This is an obviously incorrect assumption and an injudicious use of statistics.

"There will always be 25 per cent of schools in the bottom quartile, no matter how good their results, just as there will always be 25 per cent of schools in the top quartile.

"Worse than misleading the public, this report is damaging to the morale of school leaders, teachers and students, at a time when they are working harder than ever to raise standards.

"This follows the equally misleading statement last week from Sir Cyril Taylor that 500 secondary schools are failing.

"Reports such as these will cause a crisis of confidence among the leaders of the profession unless more accurate statements on schools' performance are forthcoming from public figures.

"Many of the schools on Sir Cyril’s list are rapidly improving, including academies.

"Let us be clear about the current situation. Even though Ofsted has raised the bar for inspections, only 53 secondary schools out of 3500 are in special measures.

"Of the other schools cited as ‘low attaining’, many have good value added scores for very weak intakes. They are certainly not failing."

Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers

Steve Sinnott, NUT General Secretary, said:

"The sum spent by the government on the academies has escalated year by year.

"At the same time there are schools across the country who would dearly love more funding to ensure their pupils have all the necessary equipment, resources and teachers.

"Every child has a right to the best possible education but the government’s uneven treatment of different schools with academies being substantially favoured over all others is unacceptable.

"Its concentration of very substantial amounts of public money on just a few headline grabbing institutions will be resented by teachers and parents in the rest of the country’s 23,000 schools.”

"The Public Accounts Committee report is a gross simplification of the reality of education in our schools.

"There may be a number of reasons why any particular school is experiencing difficulties but that certainly does not mean those schools are failing their children.

"This is an alarmist scare story but parents should be reassured that their children are receiving high quality in the vast majority of the country’s schools."

Stakeholder Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Commenting on the Committee’s findings on ‘poorly performing schools', a PAT spokesperson said: "These figures paint an unduly negative picture of the current state of our schools.

"Scaremongering like this is very demoralising.

"Teachers, head teachers and support staff are working very hard to raise standards, sometimes in difficult circumstances, and most are doing an excellent job.

"We would like to see more recognition of schools’ achievements and greater investment in those schools that are facing difficulties and challenges.

"The Committee’s recognition that 'it is increasingly difficult for schools needing a new head teacher to attract suitable candidates' and that more must be done 'to make head teacher posts attractive' is welcome.

"A plethora of initiatives has increased the workload of school leaders significantly, making headship an unattractive career option for many teachers. There should be a refocusing of the role of school leaders.

"PAT is concerned about the quantity of initiatives that schools are being asked to implement and the short timescales for implementation.

"Those driving change do not really seem to understand the pressures on those required to implement it."

Stakeholder Response: NCPTA

Annette Wiles, policy and research manager, NCPTA said,

"All parents are going to be worried about the report and what it means to their child's education.

"They also remain concerned that the significant range of changes implemented within education has seemingly not provided the good education that all children deserves.

"Parents will want to take an active role in supporting their children's school and working in partnership with the teachers and headteacher in resolving any weaknesses to deliver an environment where a good education can be provided to all children.

"To comment in general about the number of children in failing schools overlooks the fact that this is about real children in real time and not take account of other factors.

"The negative impact on children, their parents, teachers and staff should not be under estimated."

Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said: "It is all too easy for the Public Accounts Committee to lump together schools and condemn them as under-achieving when they have widely varying characters and situations, and there are problems which cannot be easily fixed.

"Simplistic labelling and hysterical comments will not do anything to help schools in difficulties, their pupils, or their staff.

"These schools need, and many are already getting, a huge amount of time, resources and help to turn them around.

"It is important that everyone – commentators, MPs, educationalists, parents - is realistic about the extra work, time, staffing and funding needed by schools which have a high intake of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special needs to help them succeed and provide the best education possible for all their pupils.

"The tyranny of the school league tables and GCSE results are really not a good way to judge the work schools are doing with our most disadvantaged and deprived children."

For further information please contact the ATL press office on 0207 782 1589 or visit our website www.atl.org.uk.

Stakeholder Response: IoD