The quality of teaching in Britain's secondary schools remains “hit and miss”, Charles Clarke said yesterday.

The education secretary told a teaching conference that while standards have risen, the variation in the quality of teaching in different subjects had not changed.

Party Response: Liberal Democrats

Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: "Teachers need to know they have the support of the government not ill founded criticism.

"Given that our teachers have delivered on almost every government target during a period of unprecedented turbulence, the secretary of state’s remarks will be received with contempt.

"It was Gerald Ratner who famously said many of his stores products were ‘crap’, and Charles Clarke has in effect made the same comment about our schools."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

John Bangs, head of education at the NUT told ePolitix.com: "When he was scrabbling around last year looking for funds to redress the underfunding schools faced because the DfES got its sums wrong, Charles Clarke wiped out the funding for professional development at a stroke. Now he complains that the quality of teaching is 'hit and miss'. Teachers are battered and confused by conflicting messages about improvement from the government.

"Charles Clarke could have taken the next logical step and announced amoratorium on government initiatives."

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Jean Gemmell, PAT general secretary told ePolitix.com: "Having attended the conference organised by the General Teaching Council for England my recollection of Mr Clarke's comments is that he was referring to the quality of continuous professional development as 'hit and miss' and therefore the quality of classroom improvement was variable."

Forum Response: Basic Skills Agency

Alan Wells, spokesperson for the Basic Skills Agency, told ePolitix.com: “It is important to continue to improve standards of teaching in secondary schools. Too many young people leave school without the basic literacy and numeracy skills that they need to equip them for adult life in a changing and challenging world. But it is just as important to give credit to teachers for the dramatic improvement that has taken place in the quality of teaching in primary schools over the last few years.  The fact that teaching in primary schools has improved is all too easily overlooked.

“It’s important to maintain consistency in teaching standards across primary and secondary schools. This is why our Quality Mark award for basic skills is important; it guarantees minimum standards that all primary and secondary schools should reach in order to be able to ensure that young people develop the basic literacy and numeracy skills that so many of us take for granted. So far 3,700 primary schools and 318 secondary schools from across the country have the award. It is our aim to work with LEAs, schools, parents and teachers to build on this over the next few years so that teaching in our secondary schools comes to reflect the consistently high quality of teaching that I have seen in so many of our primary schools.”