Schools' English teaching must do better

State schools are failing to improve standards of reading and writing quickly enough, inspectors warned today.

Ofsted criticised mediocre teaching that stops pupils who struggle with English from making progress.

Despite more than a decade of government policy aimed at boosting literacy, improvements have been too slow in recent years, the watchdog warned.

Employers complain that too many new recruits are unable to read and write accurately and have poor speaking skills.

In a report based on inspections of 240 schools, Ofsted found that while standards in English have risen since 2004, "the rate of improvement has been slow".

Chief inspector of education Christine Gilbert said: "Too much English teaching is no better than satisfactory and too many pupils are not able to make the progress they then need to catch up."