• The government is consulting lawyers over whether to mount a legal challenge against primary school head teachers in England who intend to boycott tests for 10 and 11 year olds. However, in the run up to the election, ministers are unlikely to challenge the boycott in court. Guardian


• Labour today published a list of 750 schools in 90 local authorities which it claims are unlikely to be refurbished by the Tories. Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb has said the Tories cannot guarantee school building projects which are already underway but have not reached financial closure. Guardian


• Scottish teachers may take industrial action if the Scottish government fails to order a delay to exams associated with the new curriculum today. Teachers claim attempts to bring in the new courses are jeopardised by a lack of information and resources. BBC


• Mumsnet has launched an online petition which calls for financial education to be a compulsory element of the school curriculum. The plan to teach children from age 5 to 16 about everything from pocket money to pensions was an element of the Children, Schools and Families bill which was shelved in the run up to the prorogation of Parliament. Guardian


• An argument for the Conservatives' education policies: combining the best of private provision with the state sector, greater choice available to parents regardless of income, more options for disabled students. They are warned not to overlook the good work of many of the quangos they plan to scrap nor to renegade on Labour's achievements in early years' provision. Telegraph

• Staff at UCL and the University of Westminster have voted in favour of strike action to oppose funding cuts. The move comes a month after staff at neighbouring university, Kings College, staged walk outs. BBC


• An IFS report has called for ministers to impose higher interest rates on student loans and to limit the amount they can repay each month to tie them into longer repayment periods. They argue that the poorest students would benefit as they would be unlikely to pay back the loan within the 25 year bracket. Telegraph


• Australian research has found that the drunken antics of sports stars do not influence the drinking habits of the young, who are more likely to be affected by the drinking habits of their friends. The researchers did warn of a link between alcohol marketing within sport and youth drinking. BBC

• Sarkozy is to press ahead with a bill to ban women from wearing the niqab or burka in all public places in France, including on the street, in a move which has won support across the French political spectrum. France's top administrative authority, the State Council, has suggested the move may be unconstitutional and able to be later overturned in court. Telegraph


• The Conservative shadow minister for defence, Julian Lewis, has condemned lowering the age of consent for gay men to 16 due to the 'seriously increased risk of HIV infection'. He compared it to the military's policy of not allowing 16 and 17 year olds to fight on the frontline. Telegraph


• The Supreme Court has backed two convicted sex offenders by ruling that the indefinite inclusion of their names on a sex offenders' register challenged their human rights. Current legislation means any sex offender jailed for over 30 months for his offence is placed on the register for life. Guardian


• A judge has criticised social services in Greater Manchester for a 'startling' lack of urgency in their handling of a toddler known as vulnerable. He was found dead five weeks after police had alerted social services about the risk. Times


• Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists is a new book which argues that today's social inequality is the greatest since 1854, when Charles Dickens was writing Hard Times. Author, Professor Dorling, identifies a set of five beliefs which have replaced Beveridge's five social evils: elitism, exclusion, prejudice, greed and despair. Guardian


• Two TV ads made on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families have been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority despite complaints that they are distressing. The ads feature children as young as 8 talking about the wider implications of drinking alcohol, including being pressurised into sex and drugs. Guardian


• NHS figures obtained by the Conservatives reveal that at least 747 women in labour were turned away from the local hospital where they intended to give birth last year because the hospital maternity unit had too few staff or beds. Guardian


• Boris Johnson pledged that there would be zero street sleepers by the 2012 Olympics. A scheme by homeless charity Broadway is offering street sleepers a personal budget of £3,000, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to get off the street. Results are encouraging. Guardian


• A book aimed at new parents claims that a distressed baby left to cry on a regular basis could be damaging to the developing brain. It states that parents who deny their baby a response could leave he/she with long term emotional consequences. Guardian

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