Raising school standards in Bradford should be a moral crusade, a Government education chief claimed.

Professor David Hopkins, head of the Standards and Effectiveness Unit at the Department for Education and Skills, said schools can and should be agents of social change.

Combating under-achievement in local classrooms is a challenge, but the task has great moral depth, he said: "Education is nothing if it isn't a crusade."

His comments came at the official launch of Education Bradford, the privatised education authority which took over local school services last summer.

The Council was forced to contract out education to global firm Serco after its in-house service was comprehensively rubbished by Ofsted inspectors.

Around 150 school leaders gathered at Valley Parade for the launch conference.

They were welcomed by Councillor David Ward, executive member for education, who said from now on they should all work together with Education Bradford.

Addressing the audience of mainly headteachers, he urged them to work as a team and not - as has happened in the past - turn on the LEA.

"We must stick together when it really does get rough, and the improvements don't come as easily as we want," he said.

The keynote speech was made by Professor Hopkins, who joked that he was the country's least experienced civil servant.

His trip to Bradford came on day seven of his new job and was the first time he had been let out of his office, he said.

Referring to his own experience as a teacher in West Yorkshire 30 years ago and his aspirations for his own three children, he said: "Of course I want them to do well in Key Stage tests, but I also want them to be confident young people with a range of learning skills, to enable them after school to take their place in society."

Outlining "six steps to a learning city", he said people should sign up to a pledge or banner emphasising the importance of learning, spread best practice, and be brave enough to set aside some of the welter of educational initiatives if necessary.

Afterwards Mark Pattison, the managing director of Education Bradford, picked up the 'crusade' theme, saying how the future of Bradford depended on work in schools.

"Our moral purpose is to create a more cohesive community in Bradford, which is critical for the whole of this society," he said. "We have to be able to demonstrate that a complex urban environment which is multi-cultural can be vibrant and successful.

"We have a vision of world-class innovation in Bradford, which is achievable."

He said people working in schools needed to have faith that a huge improvement could happen. We need to believe we can actually do this," he said.

Visits to inner-city LEAs in New York, Toronto and Tower Hamlets in London had convinced him huge progress across districts was possible, he said.

The audience at Valley Parade were charmed by a presentation by youngsters from Girlington and Eldwick primary schools before taking part in workshops.