A LEADING Bolton headteacher has criticised a speech made by schools minister David Miliband in which he claimed there were too many poor teachers and too many incompetent heads.

The minister hit national headlines following a controversial speech at the Performance Management Conference in Bournemouth where he called for poorly performing teachers to be helped to "leave their posts with dignity" and that there were too many poor teachers.

John Baumber, chairman of the Bolton headteachers Association and headteacher of Rivington and Blackrod High School, said he had been disappointed by the speech, saying it could badly effect morale.

"Teaching and leading schools are challenging but mostly rewarding careers. However, nobody should underestimate the impact of over simplistic criticism on the morale of the profession."

Mr Baumber said schools in Bolton are doing more than ever to tackle under performance.

He said: "It would be an indictment of recent Government's Education Policy if it were true that schools were not tackling under performance. Never has there been such a climate of evaluation and striving for improvement."

In his speech Mr Miliband called for teachers' pay to be genuinely related to their performance- a policy which teacher unions have opposed - and he complained that only a minority of heads are willing and able to operate a rigorous performance management system that can support robust pay decisions.

Mr Miliband said: "I believe it is unfair when outstanding performance is not rewarded. Using pay as a recognition signal does not imply it is the only or the major incentive for teachers."