CHILDREN who struggle with reading, writing and arithmetic could receive one-to-one lessons to help them catch up.

Education secretary Alan Johnson is planning to introduce these lessons ahead of new figures which are expected to show that more than half of teenagers are failing to get five C grades in GCSE subjects including English and maths.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, welcomed the plan for catch-up classes: "One-to-one support for pupils who are struggling will make an enormous difference."

The government's expected announcement comes after Ofsted's chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, said education must be `personalised' for the needs of individual children if standards are to rise.

Currently, targets focus on the percentages of pupils in schools achieving five C grades at GCSE.

But Mr Johnson has already hinted that he is minded to change the system to focus on the progress of individual children.

In November last year, Mr Johnson said the existing league tables and targets were too `narrow'.

He said he had `an open mind' on whether a new measure should be introduced to focus on children's progress, adding that schools should be rewarded for helping less able pupils improve.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the idea.

Progress

"It makes more sense," he said.

"It is a more intelligent form of accountability for the success of schools to be measured according to the progress of all pupils."

The existing `threshold measure' of the percentage of teenagers in a school getting five A* to C grades only examines the achievements of some of the children in most schools, he said.

"One has to see what the details are."

On Thursday, league table figures are expected to show that dozens of highly regarded schools have been failing to teach children basic literacy and numeracy.

The government's tables have been reformed this year so that all schools will be judged on how many of their pupils get five C grades in subjects which must include English and maths.

In previous years, schools have been measured on how many teenagers get Cs in any five subjects.

Education experts feared that many schools had been simply `playing the system' by entering pupils for so-called `easier' subjects to boost their places in the tables.

Provisional figures published in October showed that only 46 per cent of pupils in England scored five C grades in their GCSEs last year, in subjects including English and maths.

This was far fewer than the 59 per cent of students who got five Cs in any GCSE subjects.