IT HAS been a gala month for the big cities. Not before time, urban schools are on their way. So what has turned them round?

Few urban local education authorities emerged unscathed from their first inspections in the late 1990s. There were a host of reasons - financial, political, managerial, cultural. And of course the Office for Standards in Education of the time was not disposed to take prisoners, particularly in cities. Its inspections were, as one senior OFSTED insider put it, driven by “barely disguised malice” towards LEAs.

Sheffield and Birmingham were two big cities included in the first round. Reports on both have just been published. Tim Brighouse’s work has gained richly-deserved applause: Birmingham has set the standard for other cities. Five years ago you wouldn’t have bet the housekeeping on one of the big cities reaching the highest levels of performance. Sheffield’s report, too, described us, the fourth largest English city, as on the up with a well-run service.

In Sheffield, we can point to three factors that are improving pupils’

learning.

First, the pupils. The best change of the past few years has been the strong focus of all schools on each child’s progress. Expectations of learning gains at each stage are much more explicit; these are known and understood by pupils and, increasingly, parents.

Schools are also looking to target particular groups or minorities that are failing to progress. It is not unusual to find a raft of mini-programmes in schools for small groups who need a specific form of help for a specific period. The type of learning available is broadening to provide out-of-hours gifted and talented programmes, summer schools, and so on. Often, involving the parents as learners is key to this and many of our primaries have become expert at this.

Second, we’re fortunate in Sheffield to retain higher proportions of our staff than most urban LEAs and we recruit pretty well, (although there are hot-spots in the most challenging schools).What is the attraction? One reason is Sheffield’s particular character and style: it is a student city with a strong cultural quarter. It sits next to the Peak District and you can still buy a house at a sensible price. Not long ago, it was the city depicted poignantly in The Full Monty, scarred by unemployment and industrial decline; but now the skyline is full of cranes as the city is regenerating.

But there’s something else that keeps teachers here - a sense of cohesion and common purpose. It may be old-fashioned but Sheffield teachers do have a sense of joint endeavour and pride in place.

Characterful, cohesive cities give their people a priceless sense of identity. As citizens, teachers help form that identity and should see their reflection in it. That’s why we’re having a public celebration of our teachers this autumn.

Third, cities such as Sheffield are improving because of the performance and role of their LEAs. In big cities, the council is the only agency that can co-ordinate schools, funding agencies, regeneration initiatives, voluntary and community sectors and so on. All proposals usually lead back to the council and the role it can fulfil as broker, expert, accountable body, trust member, company director.

We have used all these roles and more to win European funds, build learning centres, pilot regional e-learning networks. Just as the big cities are the economic motors of their regions, so LEAs and councils are the catalysts of educational improvement. City LEAs have to be in the thick of change if they are to maximise advantage for their schools.

It is still too soon to use words like renaissance for big cities, but they are in better shape than they have been for a generation.We are on the move.

Jonathan Crossley-Holland is executive director of education in Sheffield