• Chief Executive of Ofqual Isabel Nisbet, has said that standards in GCSE science this year fell well below what students and teachers have a right to expect and papers should be toughened. Ofqual has been worried about science for two years, last year publishing a highly critical assessment of science papers sat in 2007 and 2008. In one case it found that students only needed six marks on a paper to score a grade C. Times
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• Barnardos has criticised 'impenetrable clusters of privilege' which coalesce around the best state schools, citing research indicating that the top secondary schools in England take just 5% of pupils eligible for free school meals. They suggest that government plans to allow 'free schools' to control their own admissions risks widening the gap. The government responded that they were deploying a pupil premium and an expansion of Teach First into more deprived areas to address this. Guardian
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• Nearly one in five seven year olds are falling behind the basic, expected standard in English and Maths. Around one in six youngsters do not reach this level in reading and one in ten in maths. Boys still lag behind girls in every area after only two years in school: the gender gap is starkest in writing results where 24% of boys failed to reach the expected level compared to 13% of girls. Telegraph
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• Head of admissions at Oxford University has said that students should forget about developing well-rounded interests, musical, sporting or otherwise as Oxford values in-depth subject knowledge. Dr Nicholson told the Times Educational Supplement that 'it really doesn't matter if you haven't got any friends or hobbies or if you don't do any charitable work' as admission was a 'purely academic judgement' and they were not looking for 'second-rate historians who happen to play the flute'. Times


• Graduates holding student loans will now pay more for their debt, as the Student Loans Company confirms that those with post-1998 loans will pay 1.5% and those who took out loans before 1998, 4.4% interest on their balances. Around 3.3 million still owe on loans taken out since 1998, and 355,000 from before then. Telegraph



• A study of the lapdancing profession has found that a 25% of women have degrees, with 90% having completed a further education course. The vast majority reported high levels of job satisfaction, citing flexibility and annual incomes between £24,000 to £48,000. The academic conducting the salary commented that she had been surprised at the 'endless supply of women' wanting to enter the profession and that the 'women do not buy the line that they are being exploited, because they are the ones making money out of a three-minute dance and a bit of chat'. Telegraph

• A report by Professor Tanya Byron has found that one in five parents admit they have forgotten how to play with their children and a third say games and activities with their families are boring. More than half of children questioned wanted more quality time with their parents but one in ten sensed parents found family playtimes dull. The study concludes that play is in danger of becoming a 'lost art' as cross-generational enjoyment flounders. Guardian
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• David Cameron is taking his statutory paternity leave to spend time with his wife and new daughter, yet a 2009 report found that 45% of new fathers do not take paternity leave. Of these, 88% said they would have liked to; 49% could not afford it; new fathers are entitled to £124.88 a week for two weeks, or 90% of their average weekly wage if it is lower. They are eligible for unpaid time off of longer periods, but this is little comfort to most. BBC

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