IT has been a disappointing week for the Government's avowed top priority: Education, education, education.

First it was announced that the latest primary school test results failed to show any improvement, despite a multi-million pound drive to lift standards.

And today, the Government faces further accusations that its obsession with targets and league tables isn't working, with news that the overall pass rate for GCSEs has fallen, albeit marginally.

When David Blunkett was Education Secretary in 1998, he promised to resign if Government targets were not met by 2002.

Luckily for him, he'd moved to the Home Office before he had to fall on his sword. (Or perhaps he considered it a fair bet that he'd be elsewhere before the four years were up.)

Not surprisingly, the current Education Secretary Charles Clarke, with higher peaks to climb, hasn't offered to quit his job.

But he does have some tough questions to answer, notably on maths and languages, the subjects causing the greatest concern.

There can be no argument that the Government has pumped the promised extra resources into education and that results have improved since Tony Blair came to power.

But good teachers feel constrained by the demands of the league table mentality, and a more balanced approach has to be found if the progress is to be maintained.

Of course, it is good news that the number of youngsters getting top grades has increased and we congratulate the youngsters in our region who have done their schools and parents proud.

But it is disturbing that the gap between high achievers and low achievers is widening.

Meanwhile, as Mr Clarke ponders the solutions to his difficult challenges today, we also pose a question for the snipers who annually greet rising A-level pass rates with the accusation that the examination is too easy.

Will those same critics now question whether GCSEs are too tough, given that this year's overall pass rate is down?

We suspect that they won't.