Has the time come for school governing bodies to be radically overhauled? At present virtually anybody of the right age without a criminal record can be a governor.

While there may be nothing wrong with this in theory, in practice being responsible for the governance of a school, its academic achievement and finances, is asking a lot of volunteers.

Expecting them to be dispassionate representatives rather than delegates for a particular group or community is perhaps expecting too much at a time when the population of Bradford seems to be changing so fast.

Councillor Ralph Berry, the Bradford councillor responsible for children and young people’s services, said: “It won’t be long before rows start breaking out about the educational needs of Eastern European children. My only concern is that everybody needs to have their voice heard in that.”

Bradford’s rapidly changing demography – small Asian shops and eating houses in parts of the inner city are now small Polish eating houses and stores – and the break-up of the schools system into the mixture it is now, has presented problems faster than solutions have been found, tried and tested.

Academies and free schools have been introduced with different rules of governance. Heads appoint governors in free schools, but in state schools governing bodies appoint head teachers.

And on top of all this, for ten years until 2011 Bradford’s entire schools education system was run by a large private conglomerate – Serco.

Recent problems at the flagship free school King’s Science Academy served to turn the focus on the idea of governing bodies at schools.

For a year the governing body did not have a chair of governors. Then in January the school’s founder, Sajid Hussain Raza, was arrested following a two-month police investigation into the school’s finances after a Department for Education report revealed the improper use of thousands of pounds of start-up money.

Mr Raza, who was released pending further police inquiries. is bailed until next month.

The replacement of the entire governing body at Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College with an Interim Executive Board followed a critical Ofsted Report last September.

Councillor Berry said management conflicts within the school had become apparent to the Secondary Schools Partnership (one of three schools’ partnerships in the district) in July last year.

These partnerships – for primary, secondary and special schools – offer periodic reviews, a mock Ofsted inspection. If remedial action is deemed necessary, the school’s governing body is advised what steps need taking.

This same early warning system has in the past eight years prompted intervention at the University Academy Keighley, Bradford Moor Primary, Queensbury School, among others.

Poor academic results, low morale and personality clashes were attributed to the failing of the UAK. The secondary schools partnership put in a management team, which after 18 months resulted in a 26 per cent increase in GCSE passes.

Queensbury School was troubled in part by the behaviour of some pupils. Inspectors reportedly witnessed one boy being beaten up by others in the playground. An Interim Executive Board helped to improve matters considerably.

Bradford Moor Primary was taken over by Dixons City Academy and is now called Dixons Marchbank Academy.

In these three cases, remedial action made a positive difference.

Councillor Berry said: “The partnership provides guidance and information about a school’s performance that it knows will be picked up by Ofsted. Help can be provided. Schools need to be inter-dependent, working to a local plan.

“Failure to act on what you know is going wrong in schools will catch up with you. Schools can go from good to bad very quickly. They can get distracted by internal conflicts, a failure to come to grips with changing demography or volatile community issues.

“Every school has to see itself as accessible to the wider community across the district if we are to have continuity of purpose and Bradford is to get where it needs to go,” Councillor Berry added.

However, the role of governing bodies remains problematic. There are more than 200 schools in the district with a combined budget in excess of £600m.

Governors are responsible for managing budgets, setting targets and checking educational progress, yet the job requires no qualifications.

But in today’s educational environment the Government may be moving towards governors with particular expertise or skills who are better trained, supported and properly appraised.