• Examiners suspended over claims they tipped off teachers about questions: Two examiners have been suspended after claims that teachers were given secret advice on how to improve their pupils’ exam results.
• Schoolchildren could be given lessons in being transgender: Primary schoolchildren to be taught what it is like to be transgender as part of plans to introduce “equality” lessons in to the classroom.
• Grammar schools get go-ahead to expand: Grammar schools will be able to expand and take on extra pupils after ministers abandoned plans to let hostile local parents object.
• Government to extend number of children to get £488 pupil premium: Schools will be able to claim money for any child who has been registered for free school meals in the past six years.  Half a million more poor children will benefit from government help targeted at deprived youngsters.
• Child poverty targets will not be met, says Alan Milburn: Alan Milburn, who advises the coalition on child poverty, is to make the case for “increased investment” in early years funding, saying that there would be “big economic returns” for the country, with the poorest families having the most to gain.
• Schools facing head teacher shortage in pay row: Schools are facing a looming leadership crisis as primaries and secondaries across England fail to recruit head teachers, according to a new report.
• One in five children is obese by the end of primary school, NHS figures show: Ministers face call for action as figures reveal 19% of year-six pupils are obese – part of a steady rise since 2006-07
• Students turn to prostitution to fund college: Growing numbers of university and A-level students are turning to prostitution or working as escorts to fund their education, the National Union of Students said.
• One eighth of primary schools fall short of government literacy and numeracy targets: One in eight primary schools have failed to reach a minimum government target for getting 60 per cent of their pupils to read, write and add up properly by the age of 11.
• Education minister Nick Gibb claims celebrity culture and obsession with wealth is harming children: British children are growing up in an “destructive” society obsessed with the celebrity way of life and need to be taught to live within their means, an education minister has warned.
• Examiners make thousands a year providing ‘inside information’ on GCSEs and A-Levels.:
• Examiners are making thousands of pounds a year by working for private companies giving teachers and pupils “inside information” about how to get top GCSE and A-level results.
•  Children must learn their times tables by age of nine: Children face being required to master times tables and division by the age of nine under Coalition plans to radically toughen up the National Curriculum.

The government has abandoned plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board, minister Lord McNally has announced.  The Ministry of Justice said the youth justice system still needed reform but, “following careful consideration”, the board would be saved.

The board was set up in 1997 to oversee the youth justice system and ensure that under-18s in custody were kept in safe conditions.  It was due to have been scrapped as part of a so-called “bonfire of the quangos”.  But the government was defeated in the House of Lords on the decision earlier this year, and there were fears that continuing anger over the proposed abolition could have led to another defeat at the latest stage of the bill.

Announcing the reprieve, Lord McNally said the government realised “that the future of the Youth Justice Board is an emotive issue”.  He said ministers believed its functions could have been brought in-house and carried out by the Ministry of Justice, but they accepted that in both Houses of Parliament and in a public consultation there had been “considerable opposition” to such a move.

“During that period the Youth Justice Board played an enormously important part in liaising with, overseeing and helping both the youth offender teams out in the community and also the oversight of those being received in custody who required a great deal of help”

For Labour, shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said he welcomed the government’s “long overdue change of mind”:

“The YJB does an important job battling to reduce youth offending.  It has a proven track record in reducing crime, which is why it was madness for the government to want to abolish it and why Labour and so many groups have campaigned for its survival with such determination.”

But Mr Khan said the work of the board was “still being undermined by severe cuts to youth offending teams, which work within communities to cut crime and anti-social behaviour”.

In October the government announced it was scrapping 192 public bodies – such as the Film Council and the Audit Commission – while 118 would be merged.  It said the move would save more than £1bn, but opposition to the plans has led to the reprieve of about 20 quangos and forced ministers to drop proposals to abolish 150 more without parliamentary approval.

In recent days we’ve seen headlines such as David Cameron slams ‘outrageous’ poppy ban by Fifa on England shirt after it emerged that Fifa officials turned down the special request, made by the Football Association, claiming it would “open the door to similar initiatives” across the world.

A letter from Fifa to the FA sent on Tuesday said:

“We regret to inform you that accepting such initiatives would open the door to similar initiatives from all over the world, jeopardising the neutrality of football. Therefore, we confirm herewith that the suggested embroidery on the match shirt cannot be authorised.  There are a variety of options where the FA can continue supporting the cause of remembrance. One of them already was approved by Fifa, the period of silence.”

Fifa’s rules prevent anything of a political nature being worn on shirts and, although the organisation does not regard poppies as political, it is concerned it would open the door to countries wanting to wear various different emblems on their shirts, some of which would be overtly political.

The sports minister Hugh Robertson also wrote to Fifa urging them to reconsider. Robertson’s letter said:

“We fully understand, and respect, Fifa’s rules on its member nations not adorning their shirts with ‘commercial’, ‘political’, or ‘religious’ symbols or messages. The FA and FAW do not intend to contravene these rules.  However, the British public feel very strongly about this issue which is seen as an act of national remembrance to commemorate those who gave their lives in the service of their country. It is not religious or political in any way.”

The FA have released a statement:

The FA would like to clarify that the organisation and England players at all levels will be showing their respect and marking Remembrance Day in a number of ways.

We have been working closely with the Royal British Legion who have welcomed our support. We can confirm that:

• The England players will wear black armbands during the Spain game on Saturday
• The FA will place a poppy wreath on the pitch during the national anthems
• There will be a one-minute silence ahead of kick-off
• Players will wear training tops with embroidered poppies on match day
• Players will wear poppy-embossed anthem jackets during the national anthems
• Military representatives will be in the presentation party prior to kick-off
• The FA has donated 500 England v Spain tickets to ‘Tickets for Troops’, for members of the armed forces, and 1,000 tickets for the England v Sweden game on Tuesday (this is standard FA policy for Wembley matches)
• The England senior squad will train at Wembley on Friday ahead of the Spain game. They will observe the two-minute silence at 11am, all wearing training tops embossed with poppies. This session will be broadcast live
• The training tops embossed with poppies will be passed onto forces’ charities post-match as auction items for fund raising
• The poppy will be visible around Wembley on Saturday, on the scoreboards and advertising boards, and poppy sellers will be in the stadium to allow supporters to donate to the poppy fund and show their support
• On Thursday, England Under-21s play Iceland in Colchester and England U19s play Denmark in Brighton. All players and staff will be wearing poppies pre- and post-match
• Both the Under-21s and U19s will observe a one-minute silence, too, at their games – the Under-21s will do so alongside troops from Colchester barracks.

The decision by FIFA doesn’t seem a well thought out decision, common sense seems to have stopped in an overly politically correct world where everyone is scared of offending someone else.  I believe the poppy should be allowed on the England shirt.  However, I don’t remember teams wearing poppies on their shirts before this year.  The thing that I have remembered is the minute’s silence and the honouring of troops and retired troops.

What do you think?

Headlines from the world of education and schools work:

• Rachel de Souza: ‘We went to pupils’ homes and got them out of bed’: Head teacher Rachel de Souza knew her pupils needed a wake-up call – literally – to improve standards. As a result, she arranged for teaching staff to go round to their homes during the Easter holidays and drag them out of bed to come in for maths revision classes. It is just one of the innovations which has transformed the failing Costessey secondary school in Norwich into the thriving Victory Academy within 12 months.
• Apply for university AFTER getting your A-level grades: The most radical overhaul of university admissions for half a century would allow students to apply after they receive their A-level results, sparing them the anguish of the clearing system.
• Schools acting as ‘surrogate parents’, says Ofsted chief: Schools are being forced to act as “surrogate families” because growing numbers of parents struggle to bring up their children properly, according to the new head of Ofsted.
• Summer-born children ‘less likely to attend top universities’: Summer-born children are considerably less likely to attend top universities than pupils with autumn birthdays, according to research.
• Social mobility of young people ‘being held back by government policy’: Cuts to education, benefits and pensions likely to lead to deeper inequalities in the future, says the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.  The government’s radical proposals make it “difficult to be optimistic” about meeting ministers’ commitments to increase social mobility for young people, an influential thinktank has warned.
• Teachers suffering from ‘burnout’, warns new Ofsted chief: Good teachers should be given time off to stop them suffering from classroom “burnout”, according to the incoming head of Ofsted.
• Parents urged to be proud of apprentices: Parents should be just as proud of their children securing a top apprenticeship as getting in to university, the new shadow Education Secretary, Stephen Twigg, said.
• More than 35,000 Sats papers are re-marked: More than 35,000 Sats papers were sent back for re-marking this year by primary schools across the country, as headteachers questioned the quality of marking and the validity of the tests.
• Towns where 1 in 4 young people are ‘Neets’ revealed: Doncaster, Grimsby and Warrington named in first study to map clusters of under-25s who are not in work, education or training
• Jarrow marchers joined by hundreds of supporters as they complete trek: Protesters who recreated the original 1936 march hand petition to No 10 calling for action on youth jobs and services.  A group of activists who recreated the famous 1936 Jarrow March for Jobs completed their journey on Saturday.

A new infographic published by Yatterbox takes a look at how U.K. politicians are using social networking services. Yatterbox analyzed 29,571 social media updates from all U.K. politicians with a presence on social networking services and it turns out that Twitter is the most popular way for them to communicate with their supporters.

Of all the posts that were analyzed, 91 percent were sent using Twitter, while Facebook accounted for just
2.4 percent of posts. Most U.K. politicians joined Twitter between 2009 and 2010, but others are still joining up. Prime Minister David Cameron has the highest number of Twitter followers among MPs (1,845,141) followed by Labour Leader Ed Miliband (97,295) and Liberal Democrats Leader Nick Clegg (66,904).

Check out the infographic for more stats about tweet-happy politicians:

Headlines from the world of education and schools work:

• Jamie Oliver fears government is undoing school meal progress: Jamie Oliver fears the school meals revolution he kickstarted is in danger of unravelling because ministers are ignoring research showing that nutritious lunches improve learning.
• Education budget faces deepest cut since 1950s, warns IFS: Under-fives, 16 to 19-year-olds and building programmes will suffer as spending is slashed by 14.4% over next four years – the largest cut since the 1950s, Britain’s leading tax and spending experts have warned.
• What’s wrong with today’s youth? Nothing a mentor can’t fix: Once they’d have crossed the street to avoid them. Now, many professionals are making friends with so-called ‘feral’ teenagers – with startling results
• How intervention is keeping children out of care: Intensive family intervention programmes are helping parents and children to enjoy life at home together.  For professionals determined to prevent teenagers deemed “on the edge of care” being removed from often initially unco-operative families, a dogged persistence is key.  Being straight with parents about what will happen if things do not improve, while working alongside them, rather than doing things “to them” or for them, is also critical, a report by the watchdog concludes.  The report, Edging Away from Care, looks at good practice in 11 local authorities to keep young people at risk of entering care living at home, using methods that include family intervention programmes (FIP), family group conferencing or multisystemic therapy. Many of the young people were, or had been, subject to child protection plans.
• Britain’s primary school classes are most crowded in Europe: Britain has the most crowded primary school classes in Europe as applications for places rise by more than a quarter, new figures show.
• Scrap reading tests for pupils aged 6, experts urge ministers: Leading literacy experts will today urge the Government to abandon plans for a compulsory national reading test for all six-year-olds next summer.
• University adds six weeks to teaching year to offset fee rise: University students will be asked to work harder and longer as part of a radical charter to be introduced next year to coincide with the rise in tuition fees.