IT’S VITALLY important that we improve the Bradford district’s education results and all the evidence shows that we need to attract the best possible teachers to schools to achieve that improvement.

That’s not to say that Bradford doesn’t have a good deal of its own teaching talent, as will be on display at the upcoming Schools Awards, held annually by the Telegraph & Argus to shine a light on all the good work taking place in the education sector.

But Bradford is a big city that needs an even greater number of talented people using the very best practices to help us make the necessary improvements. Bearing in mind the theory that the most promising teaching talent is naturally drawn to districts and schools that are higher up in the league tables, Bradford has no choice but to think outside the box to attract would-be teachers to an area that may have developed a stigma in education circles due to historic poor performance.

With that in mind, it’s great to see a pioneering initiative has been put in place to give trainee teachers bus tours of the district to show them the many good things Bradford has to offer. Of course, it’s possible that some of them will ride off into the sunset never to be seen again.

But the fact that hundreds of people now have Bradford at the forefront of their minds as they look to forge a career path has to be a good thing. Indeed, it’s promising to hear that the scheme is already reaping rewards after a quarter of those who took part in the tours chose to become part of a “talent bank” of teachers that can be used to fill vacancies in Bradford schools.