The most important factor in the achievement of higher standards within schools is the quality of the teacher.

This is the view of John Coe, general secretary for the National Association for Primary Education (Nape) who believes that those in education jobs have a vital role to play in a child's development.

Mr Coe added that currently the UK education system is performing well serving the brightest and most able pupils.

However, the expert suggested that more needs to be done to bring weaker children up to adequate standards in terms of general achievement.

"Many studies in recent years, particularly [those] independent of government, have come to the view that the critical factor in enabling the achievement of higher standards in any kind of school is the quality of the teacher alongside the child," he said.

"That has led to an increasing change in government policies away from top-down directed improvement. This has been accelerated by the recent change of government."

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