SCHOOLS chiefs today defended the success of an Education Action Zone -- despite worsening GCSE results in three out of four high schools.

David McNulty, assistant director of Education at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said success of the borough's Education Action Zone and Venture Zones could not be measured by exam results alone.

And he said if statistics were traced back to before the zones were introduced, there was an improvement in GCSE results in three of the four schools.

Darwen Moorland and Queen's Park High School were placed under the EAZ when it was formed in 1999 with Darwen Vale being covered by a Venture Zone which was developed as part of the EAZ in 2001.

The zones were formed to channel extra funding into these schools over four years in a bid to raising standards and attainment.

The three schools have seen a consistent drop in GCSE performance, putting them among the lowest exam achievers in the country.

But Mr McNulty said: "If we use summer 1998 results, the year before the zone and therefore the appropriate benchmark, three of the four schools show an improvement at achieving five A-C grades.

"One of the schools has shown significant improvements across all the academic indicators at Key Stage 3 and GCSE.

"It has improved at a faster rate than the national average. Performance at the other schools also demonstrates some significant improvements, together with areas of continued difficulty.

"This is not surprising if we remember that EAZs were created in areas of low achievement. EAZs are working with schools in the most challenging circumstances. If we compare the performance of these schools with similar schools elsewhere in the country then it is clear we have made important progress.

"We need to remember that for the first three years of the EAZ, the main focus, in line with national priorities, was on Key Stage 1 and 2. We achieved nationally recognised results for improvement here. In the past two years we have begun to focus more on KS3 and KS4.

"It has to be recognised that this is a more challenging and complex area.

"Some changes will lead to rapid improvements, others will take longer for us to see the full impact.

"Involving specialist teachers to share and extend good practice is one of a range of measures we are taking to improve performance."

Opposition councillors and teaching unions have joined forces to question the success of the Education Action Zone, which is due to dissolve in a matter of months.

It will end in August and be replaced by a new strand of the Excellence in Cities programme, currently operating alongside the EAZ.

Both Paul Browne, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, and Sheila Williams, Conservative education spokeswoman, yesterday blamed falling results levels on red tape.

And Martin Fisher, NUT spokesman today said care must always be taken not to "overburden teaching staff."

He added: "There may be some problems but we would need to establish the cause while remembering there is always more to education than exam results.

"The NUT has always had some reservations about EAZ's being yet another Government initiative and some of the concerns have been born out in the fact that the vast majority have not been able to secure private industry funding."