The East of England will be named and shamed in an education watchdog report which will claim a 'patchwork of provision' is leaving England lagging behind many other parts of the world.

In his annual report out on Wednesday chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw will say primary schools in East Anglia perform worse than any other part of the country, despite being traditionally seen as affluent.

He will contrast it with London, one described as an 'educational basket case' in the 1970s and 80s. Yet today seven of nine local authorities where every secondary school is good or outstanding is in the capital.

It comes after a series of damning reports by Ofsted earlier this year in which Norfolk County Council's children's services department was labelled 'ineffective' in supporting the county's schools.

Inspectors visited County Hall in July in the first two inspections of their kind in the country, to analyse how the council challenges and supports schools to improve.

In September inspectors also visited Suffolk schools, writing to Suffolk education chiefs to raise concerns.

The report will suggest better incentives for top head teachers to work in 'less fashionable' parts of the country with the greatest need for improvements.

It will also claim that white working-class children are being 'written off' by a culture of low expectations in state schools, according to The Sun on Sunday.

And Sir Michael, a former headteacher, is also expected to warn that the failure to raise standards s represents an 'unacceptable waste of human potential'.

The report is expected to highlight improvements among deprived children from every ethnic group over the last six years but say progress has been too slow in schools dominated by working-class white children.