• Chairman of the Grammar School Heads Association, Shaun Fenton, has said that education policy has been focused on overcoming social disadvantage at the expense of the most able students. Fenton represents the grammar school sector, which only has 164 schools left in England; he argues that grammars can do much to help bright children across all schools, as many now have partnerships with local comprehensives. Telegraph
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• American research has found that technology can lead to a widening gap between rich and poor households because parents of poorer pupils are less likely to monitor computer use. Access to PCs and high-speed broadband is associated with lower test scores in maths and reading. Telegraph
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• A coalition of senior healthcare professionals, which includes the Royal College of Paediatrics and the Royal College of Physicians, has written to Michael Gove to express 'deep concern' at his plans to axe free school meals for half a million children from low-income families; the letter claims this would have lifted 50,000 young people out of poverty. Critics have also said it would put unemployed parents off returning to work as losing the entitlement to free school meals would cost them over £300 a year. Guardian


• While funding for all schools has risen since 1997, the bulk of cash has been targeted at inner-city areas: Kirkley middle school in Suffolk has £2,300 to spend per pupil while Bonner primary near London's Liverpool Street has £3,600. This has meant that boroughs such as Tower Hamlets no longer languish at the bottom of the league tables but that Tory heartlands in the rural south have taken their place. Guardian


• Baroness Shirley Williams quizzes the 40 teaching staff at the Teaching Awards regional final in the South West about their perception of who controls them as teachers - they overwhelmingly feel this is central government rather than their local authority and that academies threaten equality of opportunity. Guardian


• Sir Tom Stoppard has lamented that today's children live 'in a world of technology' where the moving image takes precedence over the printed page, 'to the detriment' of it. He also expressed concerns that the humanities were being neglected in a drive to prioritise science-based subjects. Telegraph


• Diane Abbott has defended herself against criticism for sending her son James to the £10,000 a year City of London school by saying that 'West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children'. She has provoked outrage for demeaning parents whose children go to mainstream schools and for hypocrisy - she once attacked Tony Blair and Harriet Harman for sending their children to selective schools. Mail


• From next term, all pupils from three to 18 Llandovery College in South Wales will receive lessons in etiquette. The school says that their programme 'puts old fashioned manners in a modern context', and the lessons learnt will cover deportment, table manners and sporting behaviour. Telegraph

• A national day of strike action is underway at more than 90 universities and colleges. Arranged by seven trade unions, the strikes are to coincide with the budget and raise concerns about redundancies, courses being shut down and the threat to the quality of education. Telegraph


• Lord Bichard outlines the obstacles to providing higher quality Further Education: the framework is more about processes than outcomes for students; costly auditing procedures and targets discourage institutions from sharing resources and governance makes leaders risk-averse. To meet the multiple needs of students, colleges and providers must coalesce as a 'whole local system'. Guardian


• The Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University argues that there is an obvious option to universities struggling to manage the impending budget shortfall as well as sustain excellence - for the first time, UK universities have generated over £0.5bn in philanthropic cash income. Since 2008, the government has invested £200m in the current matched funding scheme, rendering fundraising even more lucrative. Guardian


• WorldSkills is the Olympics of vocational skills, last year the UK came 7th in this biennial competition which dates back to the 1950s. UKSkills has developed new qualifications in 'Performance Excellence' in partnership with the awarding body City & Guilds. These are modelled on the approach used by WorldSkills competitors and can be completed alongside vocational courses at level 2-6. Guardian

• Channel 4 is launching a new series of five minute films about religion to be screened daily after the news. The first seven programmes will be about the July 2007 terrorist attacks on London. Guardian


• In a hard-hitting report, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has said that diet is not just a matter for the individual consumer - a challenge for the government and food industry to act. It recommends changes which include a total ban of trans fats, ensuring low fat and salt foods are cheaper than the unhealthy versions and mandating a 'traffic light' coding system. A health epidemiologist was sceptical about the government's reluctance to legislate on these matters, saying they were commensurate with areas of legislation such as speed limits and clean air. Guardian


• Campaigners have called for the 'breast is best' slogan to be changed because it gives the impression that breastfeeding is 'something special, whereas it is the physiological norm'. They claim it is more important to communicate to new mums that breastfeeding is free, easy and normal. BBC

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