The government's city academy scheme has been criticised after half of the flagship bodies were ranked among the worst schools in the country in new league tables.

Truancy at some academies was running at more than five times the national rate.

And GCSE results ranked 50 per cent of the privately-sponsored schools in the table of the worst 200 secondaries in England.

Stakeholder Response: ASCL

Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Dr John Dunford said: "The results represent a real success for the system, and we congratulate the schools and young people who have put in so much effort to achieve them.

"Schools serving disadvantaged communities have to work particularly hard to raise standards, often in very difficult circumstances.

"Their improved results have came about because of schools’ and students’ dedication and hard work over a number of years.

"The steady progress of academies and challenging schools demonstrates very clearly that it takes more than a single year to turn around a school in difficulties.

"Sustainable change, not a quick fix, should be government policy for all schools in trouble.

"Government pressure to improve 'failing' schools within a year is counterproductive in the longer term."

"League tables offer a misleadingly simplistic view of school performance.

"They should come with a health warning to parents that they offer a very one-dimensional picture of a school’s achievement.

"Schools have nothing to hide and are happy to make information available, but this should be done at a local level. It is at a local level that statistics are most relevant."

Stakeholder Response: NASUWT

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The overall results demonstrate the steady and sustained progress being achieved by youngsters as a result of the hard work of teachers.

"All involved should be congratulated.

"However, it is regrettable that the government is determined to cling to this unnecessary, divisive and demoralising annual ritual. League tables should be abolished.

"Schools are already operating under a stringent accountability regime.

"The tables encourage competition between schools at a time when the government is promoting collaboration.

"The government should abandon this practice which is increasingly at odds with its own policy."

"A key focus of attention in these league tables are the results from the academies.

"NASUWT is opposed to academies but will not be drawn into using a flawed system of league tables to attack them.

"To do so would undermine the efforts of teachers who work in them and the achievements of the pupils who attend them. Judgement by league table is not appropriate whatever the status of the school."

Stakeholder Response: ATL

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "ATL continues to oppose school league tables because they distort the curriculum and the way teachers teach – with too much time spent teaching children how to pass tests, rather than learning.

"It's time to abandon these misguided tables. What parents really want is a school where their child will be safe, happy and well-educated, but league tables encourage them to rely on dubious performance statistics.

"It's time to encourage parents to spend less time choosing between schools and more time supporting their child within the school they attend."

Stakeholder Response: Institute of Education

Dr Gordon Stobart, reader in education at the Institute of Education and editor of Assessment in Education, said: "In a climate in which annual performance tables are 'a non-negotiable part of school reform' (Jacqui Smith), we cannot be surprised if schools use all sorts of 'cunning plans' (Baldrick, Blackadder) to improve results.

"So GNVQs and vocational GCSEs are taken in preference to 'academic’ subjects'."

"Is this a bad thing educationally – do we know anything about whether students actually learn more and are better motivated in these applied subjects? Instead of dismissing, should we be investigating?

"Have standards fallen in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which do not publish tables, and do they report similar curriculum distortions?"