Dear Labour,
"they wanted more and better things to do, particularly after school and at the weekends".
Try giving them homework and a more taxing education - like the private schools that you are so keen to destroy do. Stop teacher training days so that working parents don't have to run around and miss work to look after them.
Poor teachers - I see you are bing micromanaged too "all newly qualified teachers to gain a masters degree in education" - if you can squeeze that in with teaching. lesson plans and all the ensuing paperwork this government has imposed on you - without splitting yourself in two.

Steve McQueen, Sussex,

When will the Brits understand that:
a. you can't legislate to change society's values and thoughts
b. educational realities mirror the society in which they are set. Changing them decree on the pain on penalty is a very English way of doing things, rooted in a class mentality (where the privileged classses see it as their moral duty to "reform" the masses) - but IT DOESN'T WORK.
c. shooting from the hip educational "reforms" is not serious.

This culture needs to realise that it resents children so deeply that it finds the only way of dealing with them is through CONTROL and threat of punishment. It is evident in everything from the earliest start age in Europe (and the poorest rersults, evidently) , oppressive regime, inflexible curriculum, over testing, worship of league tables, taking out any sense of fun, play or creativity from learning, forcing kids into uniforms like little soldiers (and still more kids are bullied here for their appearance than elsewhere).

university professor, London,

I wish this government would stop spending OUR money on every new headline catching initiative.

Doug George, Chester, UK

Coming from an administration that turned elf ' & safety into a power rivalling the gestapo scrapping the idea of no ball games ten years on must be an admission of something - wait - Yes of course - They want to build on their SUCCESS with another stalinist 10 year plan to get us back to square one by 2020. What a load of Balls!

Philip, Ipswich,

I have completed my Masters degree after 16 years in teaching. I studied part time over 3 years and combined this with working and bringing up a young family. Each module has been researched in depth. It is at this point in my career that my qualification is really worth the paper it is printed on, as I have a wealth of teaching experience to draw upon and the capability to manage my time to enable me to spend appropriate 'think time' completing my masters.

I am concerned that to expect a teacher to complete a Masters in their first year of teaching on top of the load of delivering the curriculum and managing the work-life balance will either overload the teacher or end up in a devalued higher qualification.

Rebecca Tall, Chester, Cheshire

Competitive sports in schools aimed to teach magnanimity in victory and determination in defeat - qualities also valued in commerce. In the roots of their fabric, socialists believe neither in competition nor commerce. The former is inherent in the latter. So, true to their principles, competitive sport has been denigrated and discouraged in state schools for many years and playing fields wickedly sold to property speculators.

Suddenly, on the road to Damascus, our socialist government decides, to the surprise of no-one but themselves, they got it all wrong. Now, as if it is our fault, we must learn to encourage again the very things they destroyed. Meanwhile, for long, our children have been denied what are natural and beneficial activities.

So would this government, with no inkling down which blind alley their socialism will next lead them, please resign and hand over to people who do at least proclaim the conservation of what is best in our society?

Richard Woolley, London, England

Why on Earth does a teacher need a masters degree?

Just another tier of pointless qualifications so that the government can squeeze a load of cash out of young people before they even start work. It has the added bonus for politicians of allowing them to show off how educated everyone is.

It clearly doesn't matter whether or not they can actually do the job, still less whether they are gaining any benefit at all from the many letters appending their names.

Camilla, Burnley,

My childhood contains episodes that bewilder my own children. I carried a large knife around on a sheath in a belt, made fires and cooked food on them, caught and ate fish, played with fireworks from age 13, went out unsupervised with no chance of being contacted on a mobile 'phone, went into pubs at 14, swam unsupervised in a river, and cycled all over the place. It was what you did.
Since then every one of these activities has been proscribed, in nearly every case thanks to Health & Safety. For example, a child drowns in a river. The media take the story up. The mother is shown grieving. Legislation is passes discouraging river bathing. Children now have to swim at expensive leisure centres but lose a survival art. Yes, children are precious, but they do not benefit from being too mollycoddled. Just cut down on the excessive Health & Safety, Mr. Balls.

Dave, slough,

How about parents being in charge of their children. What is ' Masters ' in education. ? This is a serious question. Once one knows what one is supposed to teach..... ?

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Tx

A victory for common sense: thank goodness children are deemed worthy of a childhood with ball games and fun. That's what they need and apparently want so it seems they have more sense than many adults around them. Let's make it safe and possible for them to play and discover, get muddy and have fun. There's plenty of time for the adult world of political correctness and health and safety.

Alison , Harpenden, UK

Until traditional family values are placed back at the forefront of British life (as they once were), this will never be the best place in the world for a child to grow up. Only the Tories are gazing at this problem. Whlst I applaud these initiatives, one feels that Labour are only putting plasters over a gaping, festering wound.

J, Kingston,

So spending more taxpayers money is again thought by Labour to be the panacea. I, and many others beg to differ! Profligate spending in education, the NHS, law and order has done little or nothing to improve these areas. Why do Labour governments consistently see the squandering of taxpayers money as the answer to all ills? I see no evidence of "curtailed freedom of children" on the estate where I live. Vandalism, drink, drugs, graffiti, hardly "curtailed freedom" is it? 'Liberal' policies accelerate the breakdown of social cohesion and the government is guilty of undermining of stable two parent families. They "have sown the wind", the public are "reaping the whirlwind".

Rod Ballard, Leicester,

Like the NHS the all-important Education of our children has become a political football where unscrupulous and dishonest politicians score points off each other in an effort to further their own careers. Are they really interested in our children? Personally, I think not.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

I agree with George Brink. As a Science graduate I have been thinking of going to train as a teacher.

Having to do a Masters degree on top of a heavy workload has put me off teaching.
Sarah

Sarah, Edinburgh,

Reverse the decline in childhood?This gang of incompetents could not reverse a pram.Sorry to say but sixty years of meddlesome government has led to the present state of affairs.If parents were left to look after their own children instead of constant interference from the nanny state,there would be a lot less problems.Schools are for education not social engineering.So how do we address the problems?By making sure politicians are kept out of education for a start.Give parents the money to buy the education for their children.But of course i`m forgetting about the`underprivileged`.Everthing must be sacrificed in slavish subservience to the so called`underprivileged` in nu Labours class war.The most successful models for schools to follow are the private schools.But this load of idiotic socalistic liberals recoil in horror at such obvious solutions.No amount of tinkering will reverse the declince of childhood or school standards until the state control is removed.

pat, Notts,

And which Govt introduced the 'no ball games culture'?

And who are the people I have heard over dinner describing with pride how they removed competitive sport from 'their' school?

Hugh, London,

What about giving teachers authority to restore order in classrooms, so that they can regain their status as respected figures, rather than derided figures. What about holding parents accountable for raising their own children?

Lisa, London,

Making a Masters degree for teachers compulsory is probably the most stupid idea this government has come up with to date.

Yes, it a noble objective, but just how long are they going to retain Masters qualified teachers on the low pay teachers receive at present? A Business Studies degreed teacher with an MBA is going to get several times a teacher's salary in the Business world. A scientist/mathematician with an M.Sc likewise.

Even if the Masters is in purely Educational theory, the sudden influx of "highly qualified" younger teachers will reduce the degrees of current teachers to a "Super A level" status and leave them out of the running for promotions they deserve. 20 - 30 years of teaching experience will count for nothing in the face of a Masters in education and I cannot see 40 - 50 year teachers wanting to return to University study on top of their current work load and family commitments to get the new Masters degree.

George Brink, Hinckley, Leics, UK

When is the school system going to teach financial education ?.

Most of the stuff that they teach in school is usless in the real world you only have to look at the average persons debt to see this.

steve, winchester, england

It's about time the Brits started treating their children better. Then perhaps adults and parents will receive the respect they feel they are entitled to.

Willy, Somerset West, South Africa