Union bosses in Bradford fear teachers' pay and conditions could suffer due to plans to transform some of the district's schools into academies.

Bradford Cathedral Community College, in East Bowling, is proposing to become Bradford Academy, one of the first in the district.

If it is approved by the Department for Education and Skills, the project would attract £23 million from the DfES and a total of £2 million from sponsors, including the charity TOC H, which supports projects to boost the community.

Dixons CTC, in West Bowling, is also expected to submit a bid to change its status.

It is expected that other, as yet unnamed, schools will follow suit after Bradford Council confirmed in January it was in talks with the DfES to convert more.

Unions have been talking to teaching staff about what the changes could mean.

Academies are publicly-funded independent schools and are established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups working with community partners to replace weak and failing schools.

Ian Murch, secretary of the National Union for Teachers (NUT) in Bradford, said teachers needed to be aware that academies do not have to follow the national curriculum and their jobs could therefore be affected.

"They become independent schools and are no longer under the LEA so they can appoint who they like and they do not need to appoint qualified teachers if they don't want to," he said.

"We don't believe TOC H would do this, as we know a lot about what they're about, and Dixons is already independent so not much would change there, but other academies will have this option and that's what we're worried about."

He said he feared the community would also have less involvement in academies because appointing the board of governors would be the prerogative of the sponsor and it would not be required to have parents or community members on the board.

Ian Davey, Bradford secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, was concerned what would happen to staff currently employed at the schools.

Bradford Cathedral Community College, in Lister Avenue, came out of special measures before Christmas and has a deficit of £1 million.

"We have been told there will be no redundancies but it's still very, very early days," said Mr Davey. "I do not think academies will be a good thing for Bradford and for the next 25 years we will be paying millions of pounds to allow them to run."

Stuart Herdson, Bradford branch secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the creation of several academies would also have a detrimental effect on funding coming into Bradford.

Angus Anderson, head of the TOC H consultation team for the Bradford Academy, said staff had been reassured their jobs would not be affected.

He said as part of the public consultation it was recognised the staff played an important part in helping the school get through a difficult period.

"TOC H is committed to supporting staff through the transition and we have met with staff to reassure them," he said.

A Bradford Council spokesman said Bradford Academy would be the first and was expected to open in 2007.

"Discussions are still ongoing but as yet there are no firm proposals to change any other LEA schools into academies at this stage," he said.

A DfES spokesman said: "There are two academies in feasibility phase (Bradford Cathedral Community College and Dixons CTC). Discussions for other potential academies are ongoing between DfES, the LEA and Education Bradford."