Parents have attacked a consultation document on a schools shake-up for asking "questions" they say are loaded in favour of the re-organisation.

Northumberland County Council is consulting parents over its plan to axe 44 middle schools.

But the consultation form sent to them fails to ask whether they back replacing the county's three-tier schools system with two tiers.

Instead, it asks whether they want educational standards to improve.

Parents say these leave the way open for the council to interpret the answers to suit itself.

One headteacher accused education bosses of trying to hoodwink the public.

The consultation document ends with a series of statements with which parents are asked to agree or disagree.

They include: "We need to raise standards in all our schools" and "Making sure our children fulfil their potential is the most important consideration".

Fiona Wilson, vice-chairman of the Northumberland Education Action Group, yesterday said: "The questionnaire misses out the most important question and the questions it does ask are things that no decent person could argue with.

"It's obvious that they're going to interpret the answers to support their own case."

Prudhoe Highfield Middle School headteacher Alan Sample said: "There is no question on that form on whether people favour two-tier or three-tier.

"It's an absolute disgrace.

"If the county council is going to use any responses to it to justify their re-organisation, it's a sham and they're hoodwinking the public.

"It only asks questions which any right-thinking person can answer in the affirmative. I can only suspect they're mortally afraid of asking the question on three-tier, because they've already had a petition of 32,000 names demanding they keep middle schools.

"I'm ashamed to be associated with this Local Education Authority."

Council leader Jim Wright yesterday said: "Mr Sample makes some interesting points which we will take on board during our consultation exercise.

"It should be pointed out that school reorganisation is to benefit all schools in Northumberland.

"We have been at pains not to criticise individual schools and still recognise the achievements of high-performing schools.

"Our criticism is and has always been of the three-tier structure, not individual schools where staff are working flat out to make sure our children are given the best possible opportunities."