There is at least one reason - not counting the baltis - to head for Birmingham some time next Thursday to Saturday. Even if you are not a dog-lover, you might find something to interest you (as usual, it is next door to Cruft’s and is free to education professionals). With 600-plus exhibits and a full seminar programme, there is more to the show than collecting goody-bags (although some of those free carriers are built to last and are highly desirable).

See The TES’s Resources 2002 magazine, free with today’s paper, for a guide to our choice of the exhibits, and check out details of seminars and lectures onwww.education-show.com.

Science Year provides the key theme with a programme of free activities and workshops in the Science Zone and a series of Association of Science Education seminars on all three days. Theseminars, which have to be pre-booked for a fee, include Citizenship in Science (Thursday, 3.30pm), Making Words Work in Science (Friday, 10.30am) and a presentation of the association’s active learning resources (Friday, 11.30am). More details can be found on www.scienceyear.com).

Literacy-related sessions include Charlie Griffiths of the National Literacy Association on “Using ICT to support the learning of disadvantaged children and young people” (Friday, 2.30pm). There are sessions on making the most of the National Grid for Learning (Thursday, 3.30pm) and on using the Internet in the classroom (Saturday, 11.30am - primary; 12.30pm - secondary). The Youth Sports Trust offers PE ideas for non-specialists (Saturday, 1.30pm) and there’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Pupil Assessment” from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (Friday, 3.30pm).

Free events include practicalsessions on Creativity in Practice (hourly every day 11am to 3pm) and daily theatre or music events. Finally, get into theatrical make-up at 2pm on Thursday or Friday, then look for a stand that needs cheering up.

You can register for free tickets on 0870 429 4580 or www.educationshow.com and pre-book yourseminars at the same time. These cost pound;11.75 for the first ticket and pound;5.88 for each subsequent session when booked together (with pound;1 reductions if you book online).