Derek McMillan (West Sussex NUT)

New Labour proposes to privatise education. What can they be thinking?

Imagine all classrooms being open to two minutes of television advertising a day in exchange for "free televisions" and "free computers". Imagine "free" dust covers for text books with Nike or McDonalds advertising.

Go further. Imagine items on the school lunch menu sponsored by Disney and named after characters in current cartoon releases. Imagine fast food outlets actually inside the school and the schools forbidden to provide "generic versions" such as Pizza or burgers for the kids on free school meals because McDonalds or Pizza Hut own the franchise.

Well lets go the whole hog and visualise schools which are franchised to Pepsi and distribute "Pepsi achievement awards" to pupils and block the sale of Coke and other competitors on the school premises and schools which have a clause in their agreement to "make its best efforts to maximise all sales opportunities for Pepsi Cola products."

We could be completely ridiculous and over-the-top and imagine almost every university having "billboards on cycle racks, on benches, in hallways linking lecture halls, in libraries and even in the toilets. Credit-card companies and long-distrance phone carriers soliciting students from the moment they receive their orientation pack to the day they receive their degrees" with diplomas coming in an envelope stuffed with coupons, credit offers and advertising flyers.

We could imagine Nike schools and universities squaring off against their Adidas rivals. We could get a little paranoid and imagine computer networks which monitor students pathways as they search the net and provide market research which are reflected in advertising which is "micro-targeted" back to that pupil at his school computer.

Class lessons could be designed in which pupils help to create advertisements for Snapple or for Starburst in school time. Tech lessons could be spent designing pizza boxes for a restaurant chain. Coke could run competitions in schools for pupils to help find the best way of promoting Coke in schools.

And your school might sign an agreement with Reebok with a "no disparagement clause" forbidding staff from criticising the products of your sponsor. Speakers might be forbidden from coming to a university to talk about human rights in Nigeria if they "might speak negatively about Coca Cola" or a university might ban anti-smoking groups because of a deal with Imperial Tobacco.

Cross the Atlantic and you wouldn't have to imagine any of this. All my examples are taken from journalist Naomi Klein's book "No Logo". They have all already happened. You have been warned.