• Scottish Education Secretary Michael Russell is facing embarrassment after he announced that actress Tilda Swinton and film-maker Mark Cousins were to advise teachers on the controversial new Curriculum for Excellence, only for his claim to be refuted by Cousins and Swinton. Times


• The former Children's Commissioner Sir Al Aynsley-Green has warned that cuts to benefits and services pose a 'real threat' to children, bemoaning that 'the power of the grey vote dominates politics' means pensioner's services are instead protected. He praised Labour's 'courageous experiment' of putting children 'at the heart' of policy. Telegraph


• Health Minister Andrew Lansley has said that a Jamie Oliver style approach to healthy eating does not work and that people need to take responsibility for their own health, as lecturing people is 'counter-productive'. He has pledged to ring fence public health budgets and outline spending plans later in the year. BBC


• Ed Balls has launched a 'save free schools meals campaign' to reverse the government's cancellation of plans to extend free school meals to a further 500,000 pupils. Free meals had been planned for all pupils in Bradford, Islington in London, Nottingham, Cumbria and Medway in Kent. BBC


• A former special advisor to the Department for Education and Skills explains why Labour's best chances of reforming the education system to achieve parity between academic and vocational qualifications may come about in opposition. Guardian

• Senior doctors and students have called for medical students to be given 'forgivable loans' which would be written off with years of service to the NHS. This would aim to address the crippling debts of between £37-57,000 that medics graduate with, seen as part responsible for 'depressingly low' levels of diversity in the profession. Times


• A plan to close smaller Welsh universities through mergers has been broadly welcomed by education professionals. The plan is likely to mean at least three universities would have no choice but to seek to merge with other bodies. BBC


• Around 270 graduates are competing for every job in the consumer goods industry; more than 100 a job in the media and 75 to posts in finance and investment banking. The number of jobs is up 18% this year and the number of applicants up 7%. Telegraph


• The Times asks if Oxford is the most sexist university in Britain. Across the UK, 42% of academic staff are female; at Oxford the figure drops to 25%. The proportion of men getting firsts at Oxford is 34% and women 23% - yet across UK universities as a whole, the numbers are the same. Psychological testing of students by gender is throwing up surprising results which may explain the phenomenon. Times

• Up to 600,000 public sector jobs will disappear as a result of the Budget cuts over the next five years, a leaked Treasury document has estimated. They will be caused by the25% inflation adjusted reduction in Whitehall spending over the next five years. This may be embarrassing for George Osborne, who said earlier this week that tackling the deficit would boost jobs creation. Times


• The number of under-16 year old girls falling pregnancy in Scotland fell slightly to 713 in 2008, new figures show. This is a mild improvement on the 751 in 2007 and significantly less than 659 five years ago. 59% of under 16s had an abortion; this falls to 40% when calculated for all pregnancies among under 20 year olds. Times


• A single mother and social worker asks why despite doing everything 'right' - staying on at school; going to university; working whenever work is available and having a child within marriage - this government deems her as part of the reason that Britain is broken and sentences her to poverty by their budget. Guardian


• More than 150,000 learning disabled adults are living with carers aged over 70. David Brindle asks what will happen when they are gone and money is short. Guardian


• The Guardian CutsWatch reports on job losses at jobcentres, children's services and a large scale voluntary redundancy scheme at Addenbrokes hospital. Guardian

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