12:00pm UK, Monday April 07, 2008

Joey Jones, Political Correspondent

Teachers' leaders say the credibility of one of the Government's key education policies can only be guaranteed if ministers change tack in the near future.

180 a levels school children chemistry classroom

In 2006 Gordon Brown pledged to match the spending per pupil in state education with the sums spent on private pupils.

But appearing today at a parliamentary select committee, Childrens' Secretary Ed Balls refused to say when the Government hopes the gap might be bridged.

Balls insisted it remains the Government's "goal" to bring spending into line with the figure of around £8,000 per pupil spent in the private sector when Brown made the pledge in 2006.

But, he said, the pace of change would "depend on resources post-2011," and he could not make promises about the next Government spending round.

The National Union of Teachers feels the current government position is not good enough, and must to be changed in the months ahead.

NUT General Secretary Steve Sinnott told Sky News: "If it's going to remain a credible pledge the Government will have to name a date in the near future."