Perhaps the NUT should concentrate on emulating private schools, not trying to destory them.

roger, london,

Methinks Greenshields doth protest too much! The system works well so why try and fix it. That always messes it up. It is just the usual left-wing jealousy again of those who work hard and want the best for their children in a current education system where teachers are abused and many parents do not seem to care about their kids destroying the education of many other pupils who suffer as a result.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

Perhaps the Teaching Unions should stop opening their mouths and proving yet again their left wing stupidity and jealousy.
I was educated many years ago under both the public and state system.
During those years teachers had a mission in life, to educate the young, many of them ex-servicemen .
I was grateful for those teachers because they realised before I did that I could be better than I ever dreamed. They taught me a (weak weedy boy) to do the best and better than I ever thought I could in sports.
No one should be allowed to teach without one quality present in their makeup. The knowledge that theirs is the most important job in the world, educating the children.
Now the old saying has come true. Those who can, DO, those who can't TEACH..

Howard, Basildon, England

What a waste of a headline.
There is so much Mr Greenshields could have said about education, and, yes, the salaries and thus professional status of teachers does need to be raised. Instead he chose this irrelevant and impractical demand.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

Typical old school left. The reality this proposal is that it would certainly close the gap between the most and the least disadvantaged, of that I have no doubt, but it would do so the wrong way. The NUT are simply seeking to make everyone averagely disadvantaged.

If they really wanted to make a positive difference to teaching perhaps they should concentrate on supporting their staff who are subjected to violent conduct and poor behaviour, reject trendy teaching methods, including the all must have prizes mentallity and stop making it so difficult to sack poor teachers so schools can get good ones in to the classroom.

They truely are bonkers!

Alistair, Portsmouth,

Tom Lewis- what planet have you been living on for the past ten years. Britain embraced the Labour brand of "equality for all" over 10 years ago and has suffered from a terminal case of TB ever since. We've got students with GCSEs, students with A levels, students with baccalaureates, we've got em with Votecs, we've got em with Surfing and F1 degrees, frankly we've got students out of the ying yang and the result... British state schools produce some of the most ignorant and under qualified human beings in the western world.

Richard, Europa, Europa

Labour as always miss the point!

Instead of trying to achieve the highest standards for all - their all consuming jealousy of anything better than they have to offer is to;

1)Tax it to the hilt
2) Remove its Charitable Status
3) Integrate it into the State system
4) Removing Freedom of choice (once again)

thus destroying and reducing education to the lowest common denominator!

Can any Labourite offer a solution to the massive shortage of teachers and funding that such a move would incur?

Seilbahn, Doncaster, South Scotland

Britain is an aristocratic led, public school fed country and until you get rid of this system there will never be a real choice of education.

Tom Lewis, Marmande, France

This is mental. As someone who was educated both in state and public schools as I grew up, I can tell you hands-down that public schools are much better because people are actually paying for the service. Then again, anything people pay for is usually better. It's why we need more privatisation in this nation, not less.

My children will be products of the private educational system, because state schools are failing. Instead of making such radical statements as this, teachers and their unions ought to be trying to figure out why our state schools are failing and what can be done to provide every British child with the education he/she deserves.

Skylar, Basingstoke, England

The Arthur Scargills still appear from time to time even in this brave new world of GB's !!!!!!

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

Omigod! How does Bill Greeenshields think by nationalising the private sector it would improve the state sector and make it fairer? All that would happen would be for children educated in the private sector in this country to go abroad and receive a private education there, not only that the staff would almost certainly go to this would result in a lowering of attainment in this country, but then i suppose that's what Greenshields means by making things fairer! The state would also not end up with the private sectors assets either as they would either be sold onto developers and built into housing estates or become headquarters for some big business or sold to some rich non-dom. Apart from that it would be illegal under EU rules and also Human Rights law!

Stephen, St. Ives, England

There is a time I would have agreed with Dr Peter Davies, however after watching the greed with which the private sector to run our utilities I am not so sure. If we put all state schools into private ownership how long would it be before only the rich could afford an education?

tony wood, London, UK

Who really cares what HE wants?

Jerry Scroggin, Phoenix, Arizona/USA

The better option would be for the independent schools to take over state schools, and take them away from government and local authority interference.

Dr Peter Davies, Halifax, West Yorkshire

So they can make a mess of that as well?

steve tea, manchester, cheshire.

Bill Greenshields = idiot.

If he wants all education to be nationalised then he can get in his time machine and go to the old USSR and 'enjoy' his 'religion' of communism where the State dictates everything and personal freedoms are non existant.

Phil, Newport, Wales

Why do we even give airtime to these hard left pillocks? They want us to try again with policies that failed time after time in country after country. Why are they doing this?

Kay Tie, York,

Blindfold the opening batsman, give the tailender a chance ! Here we go again those old socialists coming out of the woodwork.

Wills, Soton, Uk

NUT are right envious bunch of communists.. Loosers.

Erin, Harrogate,

Under the Brown Stalinist regime the class war lives on.
Yet again, further proof that the Blair soundbite, 'Education,education,education in 1997 was just empty rhetoric. Despite the billions of taxpayers' pounds spent on the country's state schools the government have failed miserably to raise standards sufficiently even though exams are continuously dumbed down to create the illusion of improvement.
Labour are failing in every department; education,crime,border control, the NHS and finally the economy.
Time to vote out the Brown failures and bring in a fresh, more competent administration.

RM, London, England