STRUGGLING schools which are making little progress could be led forward by innovative new ways of working, Blackburn with Darwen Council Leader Bill Taylor has told the Government.

Coun Taylor spoke at the Innovation Forum -- which aims to find new ways of working to improve services delivered by local government -- and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is leading on Education and Young People.

Among his ideas were proposals for a new approach to "stuck schools" -- ones where attempts at raising standards and improving performance have made little impact -- and a new "joined-up" approach to early years education and care.

Proposals include looking at how schools can be better used as community resources, how various agencies can work together to raise standards and ensuring targets linked to funding do not hamper the desire to innovate and improve.

The council plans to set up Integrated Children's Centres, drawing together nursery education, childcare, health care and social services to create a sound foundation for youngsters.

Coun Taylor said: "Our proposals are for action research projects for the Government, councils and other agencies to work together on challenging issues such as school improvement and the care and education of the very young."

"They are about looking at existing legislation to see if it helps or hinders innovation, seeing how we can pull different funding streams together for maximum impact and how we combine our expertise, different perspectives and new approaches to deliver results."