Headteachers have criticised new primary school league tables published today which aim to show the "value added" improvement each school makes to children.

The bid to give a more rounded picture of primary school performance was slammed for adding to the pressure on staff and pupils with more red tape and testing.

Forum Response: ATL

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL's general secretary said: "School performance tables are becoming an elaborate and hugely expensive nonsense. ATL challenges the government to identify ways in which they can be justified in terms of value for money.

"The tables are yesterday's idea. Like other public sector performance tables, their disadvantages far outweigh their advantages. They have demotivated schools and narrowed the curriculum. They have done nothing to support learning and teaching in schools. To say that they are a valuable indicator of success is a nonsense. It's tantamount to saying 'operation successful - but patient dead.'

"School performance tables are profoundly demotivating for our most vulnerable children and schools. All the evidence shows that if you're stuck at the bottom, you stay at the bottom. Is this how a fair and just society should treat its weakest members?"

Forum Response: NUT

Doug McAvoy, NUT general secretary, said: "The government's continuing attachment to performance tables is incomprehensible. Value added tables shuffle the winners and losers without addressing the fundamental flaws behind the tables in the first place.

"A school can receive a glowing inspection report and yet be at the bottom of the tables and suffer as a result. The tables do not tell anyone about the quality of education provided in a school and the 'added value' element does not change that situation.

"The government continues to ignore the fact that in Wales and Scotland there are no league tables and education has not fallen apart. Parents continue to receive good and accurate information about the quality of education in their schools and the progress of their children."