The government’s decision to drop primary school literacy and numeracy strategies has been welcomed by teachers' leaders as long over due.

The national strategies were introduced as a key education reform when New Labour came to power and included centralised directives on how reading and writing should be taught.

"The strategies haven't been raising standards,” Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said.

“They have deprived teachers of the proper decisions they should be making about how they should teach and what they should teach,” she added.

Schools will save £100 million a year in consultancy fees when the contract with Capita is abolished in 2011. More local support for schools will take their place.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary insisted that he was not abandoning daily literacy and numeracy hours in primary classes.

“I will make sure that the money is ring-fenced so that schools will continue to spend the money on English and maths learning,” he told the BBC.

“We are giving more flexibility and judgment to headteachers and teachers to decide what will work best for their school and their children. It is putting more trust in professionalism of our school leaders.”

But Christopher Chope, a former Tory minister, called on Mr Balls to apologise for preannouncing the decision to the media, in a breach of the Mr Bercow’s new rules.

“Either Mr Balls is himself illiterate or contemptuous of the Speaker’s ruling - or both,” Mr Chope told Parliament yesterday.

Primary school standards initially improved under the national strategies, but soon stalled.

David Blunkett, former Education Secretary, who introduced the directives including a when and how literacy and numeracy should be taught, warned that standards would be difficult to maintain without central control.

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