SCORES of 15-year-olds across the region are getting a second class education, according to a report by Ofsted.

The school's watchdog has called for a national strategy to improve schooling for disaffected teenagers after a survey showed they were not getting the education and social skills they needed.

The report covered six local education authorities in the country, including Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland.

It said teaching in one in five Pupil Referral Units (PRU), for children who have been expelled from schools, was unsatisfactory while management in one in four was "not up to scratch".

Ten thousand 15-year-olds were missing lessons across the country every day, it said.

But Ofsted said many secondary schools did have study programmes that involved vocational or job-related courses for disaffected youngsters. It also reported that more pupils were succeeding during the GCSE years.

Ofsted's director of secondary education, Mike Raleigh, said: ''This group of pupils did best when they had a choice of courses which led to recognised qualifications and they could do options based on carefully selected combinations of related subjects or extended vocational courses.''

Liberal Democrat education spokesman and Harrogate MP Phil Willis said: ''The answer does not lie in Draconian punishments for young people and their parents, it is in providing exciting curriculum opportunities in schools, college and the workplace that genuinely engage young people.

''For many young people, PRUs merely reinforce their sense of alienation. The need to recruit highly-qualified staff from the wider community as well as from the world of teaching is crucial".

A spokesman for Hartlepool Local Education Authority said it was working with a number of agencies, including the youth advice service, Connexions, to ensure disaffected youngsters had support as well as an education.

"We are currently considering a vocational training option as part of our Behaviour Improvement Programme, a national initiative operation within our area," he said.

"We also offer a variety of options for permanently excluded young people at our PRU, ranging from basic skills to vocational training and GCSEs."