THE problem of what is wrong in our schools is easy to identify — the challenge for Oxfordshire County Council to correct it is what is complex.

We have campaigned about the need to improve our schools — specifically but not exclusively those in the city — for more than a year because many of our children are being failed.

Today Melinda Tilley, the councillor charged with improving schools, has released her six-point plan to begin that process.

It may seem underwhelming for those looking for that silver bullet, but remember the scale of the task.

We have many schools with their strata of governors, headteachers, teachers and the parents. Mrs Tilley’s education officers do not have a statutory big stick to whack them instantly into line.

The key to Mrs Tilley’s action plan will be just that: action. If it allows itself just to be fine ideas and buzzwords then it will be derailed.

This must become the framework for schools to work towards, effectively giving heads and governors a chance to adopt it and improve or face the consequences for failing to do so.

Critics may argue with some of the points but something had to be tried.

Doing nothing is not an option because our children’s education has been neglected for too long.