The proposal to take control of day-to-day education in Bradford away from the politicians and hand it to a private company is a radical step and a very significant one.

The education of our children throughout this country has suffered for too long at the whim of local councillors who often have little specialist knowledge of the subject and are more interested in holding on to their seats and pursuing party dogma. It is far better for experts to take day-to-day control under the watchful eye of a group made up of interested parties.

It makes a great deal of sense to let those with a powerful interest in the way the district's education system performs - including teachers, parents and business leaders - have a major say in how it is run through their representation on a public-private board.

Teachers are at the sharp end and have an important contribution to make to setting the agenda and monitoring its performance. Many parents have strong views on how their children should be educated and deserve a louder voice than they currently have. And it is right that businesses should have a say, because their future success depends largely on being able to recruit an able, ambitious and well-educated workforce from among local youngsters.

Only time will tell if the model proposed for Bradford is the right one but the hope has to be that all those involved in education in the district will throw themselves behind it. Along with the reorganisation back to the two-tier system, it could be just what is needed to shake schooling in the district out of the doldrums and give all our children a better deal than they have been getting.

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