IT IS almost compulsory for the hotheads to hijack the headlines at any union annual conference with ritual calls for a strike as the universal panacea to the

perceived ills facing any occupation.

The National Union of Teachers' conference in Harrogate this week was no exception, with the Government's plans for performance-related pay

sparking off angry speeches and a mass walk-out from delegates when Estelle Morris, Government Minister for education, took the platform.

Although the issue of pay grabbed the headlines, many delegates identified what they saw as an equally sinister move by the Department for Education and Employment.

Delegates from Yorkshire expressed their fears about the latest plan from Bradford's education service to put a private company in charge of the district's schools.

What this will mean for teachers, their conditions of employment, pensions and pay, has not yet been explained as discussions are at an early stage.

But it is not just the teachers on the platform in Harrogate who are extremely worried about the proposals - the town's MP Ann Cryer has also expressed her reservations.

Whether private companies can run the Bradford

education system better than the local authority is not the issue at the moment, although there are those who believe the private sector could not make a worse job of it.

It is yet another level of uncertainty in the future which has been introduced which serves to do nothing but further destabilise the system.

Despite the constant reassurances from City Hall there are few in this part of the world who seem to be convinced things are going to get better.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.