• A-Level pass rates have today reached another record high of 97.6%, with an unprecedented 27% of entries receiving an A. Just over 8% of entries were awarded an A*. Durham university research has found that a candidate who would have got a C two decades ago would get an A now. In 2009, more than 50% of A levels submitted by private schools were awarded an A compared to 20% of those in state schools. Guardian


• The Guardian's live blog on A-Level results. Guardian


• An ICM study for the Guardian has found that support for the government's education reform has dropped. 42% of voters think the government is doing a bad job in reforming the schools system; 23% felt it to be doing a good job. During the passage of the 'free schools' legislation, six Liberal Democrat MPs rebelled to back the motion that parents be balloted if a school governor objected to a school's change of status. Telegraph


• Handwritten exams may soon become a piece of history as the chief executive of Ofqual declares there is an 'issue of validity' with paper exams because pupils are no longer using writing to assist their everyday learning. She also claimed that soon students would opt to sit exams all through the year, creating a steady stream of results. Dylan William, professor at the Institute of Education, predicted the UK was '20 years away from having all exams sat at computer terminals'. Guardian

• Acting Director at Demos, Julia Margo, explains why for men an apprenticeship may be better than A-Levels and university. Guardian


• The BBC meets young people heading into professions without the help of university. BBC

• In a speech in which he claimed that making Britain more socially mobile was as big a priority for the Government as deficit reduction, Nick Clegg also pointed out that bad parenting can harm a child's potential more than poverty. He cited a study which suggested the amount of interest shown by a parent in their child's education was four times more important than socio-economic background. Times


• Forty years after the Equal Pay Act was passed, Britain's gender pay gap one of the worst in Europe. A report by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggests that working women may have to hold out until 2067 for equal pay. The average UK salary for a male manager is currently £10,031 more than a female manager. Guardian


• A judge has criticised a council's plan to sedate a woman of low IQ in order to impose birth control on her. The woman has had two previous children put into local authority care and is with an older man whom the council believed was violent and preventing her from using contraception. The judge agreed that she lacked the mental capacity to make important decisions about her medical treatment, a statement on which the council could base a further request to use force. Telegraph


• Pregnant mothers have been warned not to drink artificially sweetened fizzy soft drinks, as they seem to increase the likelihood of a premature birth. Those who drank one serving a day were 38% more likely to give birth before 37 weeks gestation and those drinking four servings a day, 78% more likely to have their baby prematurely. The affect was weaker for artificially still soft drinks and non-existent for sugar-sweetened drinks. Telegraph


• Only three men have been cautioned for relations with prostitutes who have been coerced into prostitution, since it was made a criminal offence in April 2009. The Association of Chief Police Officers claim however that there are at least 2,600 prostitutes working in brothels in England and Wales who have been trafficked from abroad. Around one in every ten women working in off-street prostitution is thought to be a victim of trafficking. Guardian

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