A PROPOSED Government "war on mediocrity" in Britain's schools has been called an attempt to privatise the school system by a top Bradford councillor.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced yesterday that schools judged to "require improvement" could see their principals sacked, or be taken over by an academy chain, if they do not prove they have plans in place to rapidly improve.

If the plans go ahead, they could bring about huge changes in Bradford, where 60 per cent of secondary school children go to a school that either requires improvement or is judged inadequate, according to recent figures.

And the same figures show that 27 per cent of primary schools fall below the "good" rating the government deems acceptable.

In total, 69 of the 204 schools that have been inspected across the district require improvement, while four are inadequate.

Ofsted will either judge a school to be outstanding, good, require improvement or be inadequate.

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for Children's services at the Council, pointed out that there was no evidence that becoming an academy automatically improved a school's performance, and that some of the so called "coasting" schools in the district were academies.

In a speech yesterday, Mr Cameron said: "No one wants their child to go to a failing school - and no one wants to them to go to a coasting school either.

"Just enough is not good enough. That means no more sink schools - and no more 'bog standard' schools either. We're waging an all-out war on mediocrity, and our aim is this: the best start in life for every child, wherever they're from - no excuses."

Cllr Berry said: "Forcing schools to become academies just doesn't work. There is no evidence that academisation alone is the answer. There are other interventions available to local authorities so we can provide the best solutions. That may be academisation and we have used it in the past.

"The government is trying to come up with a simplistic solution, when what you need is locally based support.

"David Cameron needs to go back and look at what has worked in the past. I fear that what he is proposing is a precursor to privatisation of schools."

Ian Murch, Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers, said: "It seems that Michael Gove is still influencing Government policy. Every school should want to improve, but there is no evidence academies will do this.

"There are academies in Bradford that are not necessarily performing any better than normal schools. You can't just change the school's name and expect results."

Some of the district's biggest schools have been classed "requires improvement" after their most recent Ofsted inspections. In the past year schools that have been judged below standard are Carlton Bolling College (Inadequate - July), Thornton Grammar School (requires improvement - June) and Dixons Allerton Academy (requires improvement - December).

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