QUITE clearly, the new Education Action Zones - of which 19 East Lancashire schools are among the first announced today by the government - are an experiment.

But given that these pioneering groups, which will draw money and expertise from business into the education system, aim to combat the level of failure that the existing system delivers, then they must be given every opportunity to prove their value.

And, in many ways, the successful bid in our area for EAZ status is fortunate in that private and public sector partnership has long been developed and exploited in Blackburn and Darwen as a means of improving the community.

In short, there is already a bedrock of successful co-operative ventures on which this EAZ initiative can be founded.

But contrasted with this encouraging commitment is the problem itself of the educational failure which the government hopes will be stemmed by fresh techniques the zones will develop.

For in Blackburn and Darwen this is very real as, so far, Ofsted inspectors have found seven schools in need of special action, the number of children getting top grades in five GCSE subjects is almost half the national average and deprivation among pupils in the zone schools means 40 per cent need free school meals.

But it is the freedom of the EAZs to innovate and break free of hidebound methods that is the most exciting aspect of this experiment.

Against the dismal record of under-achievement, we now see the prospect of such developments as after-school clubs, a longer school day, a revised curriculum that actually interests pupils and the employment of well-rewarded "super" teachers - and all of it designed to ensure that children who need the best teaching actually get it.

If it works - and if it works anywhere it will work in Blackburn and Darwen - the EAZ scheme could spread all over the country.

And, despite their suspicions that the involvement of business in education is a step towards privatisation and the scrapping of national pay and conditions, teachers committed to improvement will work to make this experiment succeed.

They will do it so that the opportunity it promises of a better education and improved standards may be extended to all children.

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