The Government was today accused of placing too much emphasis on artificial targets after primary school results showed that improvements in core subjects are failing to keep pace with rapidly rising expectations.

Results from the Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) show only a marginal improvement in the proportion of children attaining the targets in English, maths and science in the past 12 months.

Teachers' leaders have warned that focusing on easily measured, narrowly-defined ministerial quotas is unrealistic and undermines schools' efforts to excel across a range of subjects.

The Government has decreed that by next year, 85 per cent of pupils should reach the defined benchmark in the three subjects as part of its back-to-basics campaign to drive up achievement.

Today's results show that in maths, despite a 1 per cent increase, only 75 per cent attained the desired level of achievement. An increase of 1 per cent was also recorded in English, with 79 per cent reaching the target.

The proportion of 11-year-old pupils to attain the target in science, which fell in 2003-04, this year remained at 86 per cent.

Although the maths and English statistics leave the Government well short of meeting next year's targets for raising primary school standards, they were welcomed as "record results" by Jacqui Smith, the Schools Minister.

She said: "The level of achievement for boys and girls in English and maths has never been higher."

National assessments for seven-year-olds in England also showed modest improvement. Results were up by 1 per cent in reading, writing and maths in the new assessments which, for the first time, required only figures for teacher assessments, rather than full-scale tests.

Eighty-five per cent of seven-year-olds achieved the target level in reading, 82 per cent in writing and 91 per cent in maths.

Ms Smith said she believed the results show that the Government’s "unrelenting focus on the basics is paying off".

"The improvement in boys’ reading this year by three percentage points to 82 per cent is also good news, as the gap between boys and girls narrows."

However, the pressure is mounting on schools to reach the higher targets by next year with fears that many will fall far short.

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, was critical of the strategy of focusing on the three targets.

He said: "It's becoming more and more difficult to move on, year after year, and the Government needs to recognise that and not set targets which are artificial and very difficult to achieve."

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