A report by the Commons education select committee has warned the government against introducing further targets for secondary schools.

The MPs warn that the education department has been "trying to address too many issues at once" with the result that schools are struggling to keep up with the demands made of them.

Charles Clarke, education secretary, said: " I am determined that we make schools enjoyable for every pupil. It is right to seek both excellence and enjoyment, as many good schools already demonstrate.

"Scrapping targets would let children down, particularly many from poorer backgrounds where targets help break a culture of low expectation. The whole point of targets is that they confront failure and make sure that every child matters. Ultimately they are for the benefit of pupils, not government.

"Three years ago David Blunkett said that it would be unacceptable for any school to continue to have fewer than 15 per cent of its pupils getting five good GCSEs for three years running. At the time there were 129 schools in that group - now there are 12. The target has not been an axe over the head of schools but a spur to action.

"There is no reason why targets cannot work hand in hand with our firm commitment for personalised learning."

Phil Willis, education spokesman, said: "After six years of constantly urging the government to scrap their target driven agenda, Liberal Democrats are delighted that the committee has come to the same conclusion.

"Targets do have a place in our schools but only when they relate to individual children and are set by schools themselves."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

John Bangs, head of education at the NUT, told ePolitix.com: "The select committee is right. The existing targets are plucked out of the air and take little or no account of the circumstances faced by individual schools.

"The government has moved in the right direction for primary education it now just needs to make the leap for secondary.

"Existing targets can merely serve to demoralise a school which is faced with a target which ignores, for example, the pupil intake and is thus unachievable.

"Schools will set rigorous targets for themselves, given the opportunity. But they will also be realistic and firmly based in what is possible."