Education leaders have welcomed a report published today which praises the quality of support given to schools in the county.

According to the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), Oxfordshire County Council is a highly satisfactory education authority, though school standards could improve

Keith Bartley, the council's director for learning, described the inspection report as "a tribute to the commitment and hard work" of education service staff.

Tony Crabbe, executive member for schools, said the report was "positive and helpful" and agreed that there was room for improvement to bring school results in line with similar authorities.

And Mark Forder, secretary of the Oxfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, said schools were generally satisfied with LEA support but criticised the comparisons made with neighbouring authorities.

In their report, Ofsted inspectors found that the council had addressed all key issues since the last inspection in January 2000 and was continuing to provide good value for money.

The report said: "The LEA has identified accurately its strengths and weaknesses and has begun to implement its plans."

Almost all schools rated LEA support as satisfactory or better, and three quarters considered it good or very good.

Two areas where performance was found to be unsatisfactory were highlighted -- the effectiveness of services supporting school management and the planning and provision of financial support to schools. Plans are in place to improve these areas.

Mr Bartley "The report provides us with a good springboard for further improving the services we provide."

Mr Forder said: "It's misleading to compare standards in Oxfordshire with other authorities. Each authority is unique and the comparisons that are often made are based on false information."

Provisional figures from the Department for Education in October showed that GCSE results in Oxfordshire fell for the third year running, with 50.8 per cent of pupils gaining five A* to C grades, compared with the 51.1 per cent national average.

But the county's primary schools are doing better, with nine schools achieving 100 per cent targets in English, maths and science compared with just two last year.