The government has welcomed a new report which says pupils studying at specialist schools get better GCSE results than their peers at non-specialist schools.

The Ofsted report also showed specialist schools were improving faster and performing better than other schools.

Schools minister Stephen Twigg said the report demonstrated that "specialist status drives up standards".

"Over 57 per cent of pupils in specialist schools got five good GCSEs last year compared with 48 per cent of pupils in non-specialist schools," he said.

"Schools are embracing specialist status enthusiastically with more than two-thirds now holding it."

Levelling off

But Ofsted found that while results in the government's flagship schools were improving overall, the rate of improvement in specialist subjects had "levelled off" and GCSE grades in these subjects were often too low.

In 2003 results for both music and drama in specialist arts schools were below the national averages.

And less than half of those schools visited met their targets for numbers of pupils getting GCSE grade C or better in specialist subjects.

Set schools free

The Conservatives said the latest study indicated that specialist schools were "floundering".

"As always ministers are good at talking about standards, discipline and choice but are helpless to do anything to improve them," said shadow education secretary Tim Collins.

"Far from increasing the autonomy of schools, they vindictively stripped grant maintained schools of the very freedom Labour now claims to want to give them back.

"Only the Conservatives have the policies that will set schools free from central and local government bureaucracy so that head teachers and their professional colleagues become the driving force for stronger classroom discipline, higher exam attainment and improved school pride."

Room for improvement

Chief inspector of schools David Bell said: "Specialist schools must ensure that the drive for improvement is maintained.

"The variations in performance between specialist schools must be addressed to ensure that all types of specialist schools are consistently of the same high standard in all areas of teaching and learning."

More than 2,000 schools currently have specialist status, but ministers eventually want all schools to specialise in a particular subject area such as sport, arts or technology.

Schools applying for specialist status have to raise £50,000 in private sponsorship to get £100,000 from the government to develop new facilities and extra funding in subsequent years.