Teachers hit back at Ofsted’s damning schools report yesterday, blaming the government for creating a “fragmented and disjointed secondary system.”

The schools watchdog’s third annual report placed 50 more schools in special measures and reported a 70 per cent rise in students attending inadequate secondaries.

Teachers’ unions, however, believed it was Ofsted’s frame of analysis that was skewed and inappropriate to judge the quality of British schools.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) general secretary Dr Mary Bousted (pictured left) said: “The sooner the government and the chief inspector realise Ofsted’s mode of working is part of the problem, not part of the solution, the better.

“Constant belittlement of schools and teachers working in them does no good.”

The report also emphasised that for the quality of schools to improve there was a dire need for teacher recruitment — news that teachers’ union NUT welcomed.

However, NUT head Christine Blower said that the government’s policies in the last few years have piled pressure on teaching staff.

“The problem of teacher recruitment across the country and in many good and outstanding schools is a clear indication that teaching is becoming an unattractive profession,” said Ms Blower (pictured right). “Ofsted must bear some responsibility for this.

“Many highly regarded, experienced teachers are telling the NUT they would rather leave the profession than face another inspection.”

She added: “The NUT’s position is that Ofsted should be abolished.”

The report also warned that secondary schools — unlike primaries — had failed to challenge their pupils as they moved from primary to secondary education.

Last year, two-thirds of primary school English and Maths high achievers did not get A or A* in their GCSEs.

But the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the problem lay with the current examinations system rather than with the way students were being taught.

ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman said his group rejected “the assertion that improvement in secondary schools has stalled.”

He added: “Ofsted has failed to recognise that overall attainment by 16-year-olds is effectively capped by the current GCSE awarding process.

“As student attainment is the critical element in the Ofsted grading, it is no surprise that the proportion of schools graded good or better is relatively unchanged.”