Segregating black boys from their white peers at school would be impractical and divisive, according to education leaders in Oxfordshire.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, has been criticised for suggesting that schools should "embrace the unpalatable" and segregate black boys in some classes because so many are failing to achieve good GCSEs.

Last year, 36 per cent of black Caribbean pupils in England achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, compared to the national average of 52 per cent.

In Oxfordshire, only 31.3 per cent achieved the benchmark grades, but this represented a dramatic 15 per cent improvement, following a series of projects targeting this group of students in the county.

Steve Lunt, headteacher of Oxford Community School, which has a high proportion of ethnic minority pupils, backed Mr Phillips' calls for more ethnic minority teachers to act as role models for students.

But he said segregating pupils would go against the school's message of celebrating diversity.

Mr Lunt said: "I can appreciate people will be concerned about treating people the same. In a school like ours, with such a diverse mix of ethnic minorities, it wouldn't be practical and would be potentially divisive.

"We do monitor the performance of ethnic minority children and we have innovative projects supporting Afro-Caribbean students. We are very proud of the work we have done."

Sandra Bingham, senior education officer for access and social inclusion at Oxfordshire County Council, added: "Schools have individual plans around some of these young people, including extra support, but we haven't gone as far as teaching them separately.

"We'll obviously look at the research, but we have an inclusive approach and it's not our policy to segregate pupils. "We made good progress last year with this group and we're hoping this will continue through the work schools are doing."

Dr Liz Browne, director of secondary and post-compulsory education at Oxford Brookes University's Institute for Education, said the approach suggested by Mr Phillips went against common sense ideas of inclusion and community.

She said: "A number of strategies are in place to support the achievement of identified ethnic minority children, such as targeted recruitment of black staff into teacher training to act as good role models for such students.

"We also should remember that some minority ethnic groups achieve better GCSE results than their white counterparts. Perhaps a better approach, and a more positive one, would be to celebrate and learn from the achievement of these children, rather than focus on the negative outcomes of examination result tables."