• Revelations about a primary school headmaster paid £231,400 last year has prompted calls for restrictions on teachers' pay. Gove has already sought to implement a pay ceiling of £142,500 for all head teachers but is investigating how he can do this in such a way to apply to academies too. Times


• A thinktank has warned that privileged schools will try and hijack academy status as analysis shows that of the 1,560 schools which have applied to become academies, more than half are rated 'outstanding'. Just 10% of pupils at schools applying to be academies are eligible for free school meals compared with 30% of pupils at schools granted academy status under Labour. Telegraph


• Why should David Cameron be terrified of me, asks a pupil at one of his local comprehensives, following his comment that he was 'terrified' that he might not find a good secondary school for his children. She attends Greycoats and finds it depressing that the man in charge 'should be so oblivious to the great non-fee paying schools that surround him'. Times


• Michael Gove has offered a 'definitive' list of the schools affected by the announced cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme. A new approach to school building will be determined by a review of his department's £7.5bn-a-year capital programme. Times


• Fiona Millar declaims the cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme, pointing out that there is money, it is just to be redirected towards bringing new providers and schools into the state system in response to parental demand; thus the money will be given to schools that are already 'outstanding'. She is seeking to give a voice to those parents who want to support their local school rather than force it to the ground or start a new one. Guardian

• Women are disappearing from subjects already dominated by men. Five years ago, women made up 24% of computer science students, their numbers have now dropped to 19%. In engineering and technology, they make up just 15%. Female students overwhelming dominate education degrees (76%) and subjects allied to medicine, such as nursing, where they make up 82% of students. They also now make up the majority of medicine and law students. Blame is attributed to the lack of female role models in certain professions, and 'detached' careers advisors. Guardian


• What the media doesn't grasp: despite the glut of graduates, employers are still unimpressed by their quality. University is not raising the skills of students, even Oxford students are weaker than the average UK student on teamwork and business/customer awareness. The Director of the Oxford Careers Service argues that it is neither necessary or effective to artificially import 'employability skills' but that students need to experience, rather than just be told about work. Guardian

Why the very best candidates are being rejected: what the universities are taking into account. Guardian

• The general synod in York has voted to accept female bishops. It is unlikely there will be a challenge in the meantime, leaving women able to rise to the rank with the approval of the 2012 synod, by 2014. The synod also voted overwhelmingly for an exception to the Equality Act 2010. Times


• Ethnic minorities are set to make up a fifth of the UK population by 2051, a Leeds university study finds. It is set to rise from the 8% recorded in the 2001 census. Black and Asian populations will likely shift from deprived inner city areas to more affluent areas, echoing how white groups have migrated in the past. The population is set to exceed 70 million by 2029. BBC


• The post of Children's Commissioner is to be reviewed as part of a plan to 'increase accountability and review the cost of quangos'. Dr Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, will lead the review to investigate the best way to give young people a voice and protect their rights. BBC


• Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, wife of Nick Clegg, has written to the Times to complain about misogynistic coverage of the world cup. She writes, 'Trying to blame Sara [Carbonero, girlfriend of goalkeeper Casillas, who was reporting on their performance from the touchline] for Spain's initial lacklustre performance while she was simply doing her job was not worthy of a newspaper that should treat women for who they are and not simply for what their male partners do.' In the run-up to the election, Gonzalez attacked the media's 'frivolous' focus on the fashion choices of leader's partners. Telegraph


• A former Downing Street strategist has said that Britain is a walk-on-by society, where people are unwilling to intervene in anti-social behaviour, because of changes in the population from immigration and working women, fewer 'local authority' figures and liberal and permissive norms, which leave people unsure of whether they can admonish strangers. Telegraph


• Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, mother of celebrity chef Hugh, has stated that modern marriage ceremonies have got 'out of hand' and lovers are 'missing the point'. She was speaking at the Telegraph Way with Words festival on her recently published book on marriage. Telegraph

back to top