Greeny News

What 'S Brown and sticky?

Feels like there "only one story this week: speculation about Lord Browne 'S report on tuition fees for next week.

There was a curious interview on the Today programme yesterday with the National Union of Students president Aaron Porter (recently appointed to the Hefce board, by the way).

John Humphrys asks him at least three times what alternatives there are to an increase in tuition fees â€" and Porter keeps resolutely schtum about a graduate tax. You'd have thought the NUS would be eager to big up their graduate tax plan; it's had an awful lot of support in high circles.

But all Porter will say is that tuition fees shouldn't be spent on staff salaries, and: "I dont see why students should have to pay more. I think universities need to concentrate on providing high quality education."

Isn't that a bit vague? asks Humphrys. A bit?

Meanwhile, we wait. Sutton Trust tells us Brown could price poor students straight out of the most high profile universities, while Will Hutton makes a statement for fairness.

And as we tap our fingers impatiently, Harriet Swain visits Kingston University and asks everyone from the vice-chancellor to the students what they'd like to see in his report.

Happy World Teachers' Day!

One tweeter on #wtd2010 says: "I'll celebrate by taking a holiday and complaining a lot." Another is less jaded: "Happy that I have given five years of this life to inspire, awaken and engage curious minds."

To mark the day, Unesco is calling for stories, photos and videos paying homage to heroic teachers involved in their country's recovery from natural disasters, conflict and other crises.

Any chance Michael Gove will have something for teachers to celebrate in his speech at the Tory conference today?

Report card

Ministers of misunderstanding Why is it that government officials fail to understand what further education colleges do? The immigration minister, Damian Green, seems to think they're simply there to generate bogus visa applications. Louise Tickle has more

Oui, je parle francais There's a primary school in a less than affluent area in south London where the children take French national tests for eight-year-olds and do just as well as the average child in France.

School building cuts Three councils are to take the government to court over the decision to scrap construction projects

Quote of the week

Victoria Coren did not take kindly to the news that 37% of British schools now offer cheerleading as a sport. She says she knows she's a feminist

"when I see teenage girls in boots and knickers, waving pompoms and being told they are 'doing sport'.
They aren't doing sport. They are waggling their arses near boys who are doing sport. The boys are motivated to compete harder and triumph in the subliminal (or not so subliminal) hope that they'll get first pick of these little minxes on the sidelines.
Even if you don't think it's sexual - and I do; I think these girls might as well be bent over a rock, waiting to be mounted by which ever caveman gets back first with a rabbit in his hand - at best, their job is to support the action rather than take part in it."

In the fields

Pedants are obsessed with them, most people ignore them, but philosophy prof Jonathan Wolff has fallen in love with footnotes.

"Here the writer stands before you, character revealed," he declares. And it is a homely offering from Karl Popper in 1957 that has stolen his heart. You be the judge. And if you have a favourite, we'd love to hear it.

What you said

In response to reports that the new free schools might not have to employ qualified teachers, Puffinlunde told us:

"This is exactly what happened in Swedish free-schools. Statistics show that free schools have a lower percentage of qualified staff; it makes them cheaper to run and gives bigger profits to the owners.
It is ironic that Sweden is adopting UK policy while the UK is going in the other direction. In Sweden legislation is underway to create a teacher registration agency and to restrict permanent teaching positions to qualified teachers for all schools that receive public funding, both state and free schools."

A new study makes it clear what London parents think of free schools. They reckon they will benefit the parents who set them up, rather than the children in the community.

More Guardian stories of the day

Lenny Henry When, as a young comedian, he hung out with the likes of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, he felt his lack of a university education. But he's been catching up â€" and he's just embarking on a PhD.

Year 7 We're following a group of young people as they start secondary school in Kent, where the system is sharply divided between grammar schools and non-selective high schools.

Outstanding Why a head is eager for his school to become one of the first primary academies

Grow your own Meet the students who grow their own dinners

On the hop The unstoppable rise of the microbrewery

Stories from the Web

Gove scraps rule that doesn't exist, says blogger Teacher Talks

Teachers union calls for planned immigration cap to be scrapped

Seven of the 10 teachers want to quit because of bad behavior

Hey teachers, leave our lunch alone: pupils protest over timetable changes

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