• The coalition is to review the compulsory Early Years Foundation Stage, considering whether to make the curriculum voluntary or reduce the number of targets children are expected to meet. Schools Minister Nick Gibb has already described the curriculum as a 'bureaucratic nightmare'. Telegraph


• Following another announcement from the Treasury, the education department is to lose another £1bn and the department for Business, Innovation and Skills, responsible for universities, to lose £265 million. Not all of the £1bn will have been allocated - some of it is in reserve and to be cut by efficiencies; £169.5 million will come from cancelled projects and Sure Start will face unspecified amounts of savings. BBC


• The Conservatives garnered headlines in January with their manifesto claims to make it easier for heads to sack underperforming staff; now the company Head Support is offering courses for heads on procedures for 'dealing with' underperforming teachers. The unions are sceptical. Guardian


• Anti-social and aggressive teenagers may have a problem in their brain which accounts for their behaviour - neurobiological researchers have found that boys with the problem had similar patterns of brain activity, with less activity in the sections of the brain associated with processing emotion. Telegraph

• Increasing number of students are taking performance enhancing drugs: one in ten Cambridge undergraduates has used the drugs and one in five academics. The most common drug Modafinil is used by the US military to increase alertness and in the UK, to treat serious narcolepsy. Telegraph


• 78% of organisations are now asking for at least a 2:1 degree as a minimum requirement for a graduate job, a number that has increased as more applicants compete for a 'diminishing pool' of jobs. More than a third of the organisations want relevant work experience and 7% ask for graduates from specific universities. Telegraph


• A poll of employers has revealed that there are now 70 applications for each graduate vacancy, and the number of available positions is expected to fall by 7%. Last year there were 48 applications for each vacancy. Guardian


• All admissions tutors at Russell Group institutions have said that sixth form exams are no longer an accurate indicator of students' ability. The pass mark for A Levels is now 97.5%; only 28% of admissions officers agreed the A* would make it easier to select the most able candidates. Telegraph


• New Tory MP, Robert Halfon, is looking for a parliamentary researcher but is not happy with the nepotism and Oxbridge centric recruitment he sees in the offices of his peers. Deciding to put his money where his mouth is on the subject of vocational learning, he has asked Harlow College in Essex to find him an apprentice. The candidate must be working towards a level 3 qualification in business administration. Guardian


• Young people are flocking to horticulture courses in ever greater numbers: at one specialist college in Enfield, admissions staff report a 25% increase in demand among 16-18 year olds, at another in Bath, young people made up only 20%of horticultural students five years ago, the group now accounts for 80% of the students. The sector skills council for environmental and land-based trades has seen a 52% leap in searches for horticulture courses. Guardian

• A single person needs a gross income of at least £14,400 in 2010 to live to an acceptable standard and a couple with two children need £29,200. The figure indicates the growing gap between wage inflation, which has risen by 23% over the last ten years, and essentials such as food, transport and bills, which now cost 38% more. BBC


• Sharon Shoesmith will make her first public appearance for over 18 months and to tell of how 'naive' politicians unwittingly created a 'Baby P effect' in social services which led to hundreds of children being taken into care; she will also warn that plans to publish serious case review enquiries could backfire by sending child protection workers 'running for cover' rather than sharing lessons on improving services. Guardian


• Having two or more episodes of depression may nearly double the risk of dementia in later life, new research shows, although it is not clear if depression causes dementia. More research is to be conducted to establish why the link exists. BBC


• The BBC investigates the new village where residents are banned from keeping rabbits, ducks, bees, pigeons and children. All owners must be over 45, and while children can visit, there are limits on how often this happens. BBC

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