THE Government has set nearly 5,000 education and employment targets since Labour came to power, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.
A report released this week shows demands on schools and councils from the Department for Education and Employment have rocketed.
Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis claimed that Qualifications and Curriculum Authority guidelines for the national literacy and numeracy strategies set out 37 targets per pupil which teachers have to monitor, resuling in a national total of 306 million.
He said: “Evidence that targets can divert resources towards some parts of the education service at the expense of other equally deserving parts has been mounting. But the sheer scale of bureaucracy involved has never been revealed to this extent before.
“The Government must rationalise its targets, reduce the burden on schools and teachers and ensure that, where targets disadvantage schools, subjects and pupils, early action is taken.”
