This week
16-22 FEBRUARY 2013
SATURDAY
Going down in history
Historians lashed out at Michael Gove over the new history curriculum, saying it is too narrowly focused on Britain. It will be King Canute, Edward the Confessor and the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy from here on in.
SUNDAY
We are the robots
Scientists are working on the world’s first “robot teacher”, which could respond to pupils’ emotions. “We aim to endow the robot with social skills,” said the researchers, who will train it to teach geography first.
MONDAY
Sir Humphrey on Strike
Cheesed-off civil servants at the Department for Education voted for strike action over spending cuts and job losses. The Public and Commercial Services union claimed that 1,000 posts are under threat.
TUESDAY
Le Pen vs Cambridge
French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, daughter of the controversial Jean-Marie, addressed the Cambridge Union Society. Around 200 people joined a Unite Against Fascism protest to register their displeasure.
WEDNESDAY
Pedal Power
The World Track Cycling Championships began in Minsk, Belarus, giving Team GB a chance to relive sporting glories. Olympic gold medallists Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, the Posh ‘n’ Becks of pedalling, were there.
THURSDAY
X marks the spot
The anniversary of the shooting of Malcolm X, the US civil rights figure who was assassinated while making a speech in 1965. “Malcolm who?” pupils raised on a diet of Anglocentric history will ask.
FRIDAY
Food for thought
Girl Guides the world over will today put their teenage concerns to one side and join together to celebrate friendship and raise money for World Thinking Day. The theme is “together we can save children’s lives”.
NEXT WEEK
23 FEBRUARY - 1 MARCH 2013
SATURDAY
Party for Purim
The feast of Purim, also known as the Jewish Mardi Gras, kicks off tonight with plenty of food and booze. The festival celebrates how Esther, a queen of Persia, saved the Jews from extermination.
SUNDAY
Roll out the red carpet
Will Anne Hathaway’s weight-loss weepie Les Miserables triumph over the gory Django Unchained? Will Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln send us all to sleep? It’s Oscar night, of course, promising all the usual glamour.
MONDAY
On the square
Anything that encourages the eating of chocolate must be worth celebrating. Fairtrade Fortnight starts today, with events across the UK aiming to raise awareness of the plight of smallholder farmers.
TUESDAY
Tragedy remembered
It is 20 years today since terrorists detonated a bomb in the car park of the World Trade Center, killing six people. Eight years later, nearly 3,000 would die in the 911 attacks on the same building.
WEDNESDAY
Revolution now
The Commons Education Select Committee will hear evidence today on the role of school governing bodies, looking at how times, they are a-changing during the academies revolution.
THURSDAY
Not a smart move
The town of Eastleigh in Hampshire will be holding its by-election today. But has Tory candidate Maria Hutchings scuppered her chances by saying her son could not get the education he needed at local state schools?
FRIDAY
Land of their fathers
Go on, put a daffodil in your buttonhole - who says you have to be Welsh? The land of song celebrates St David’s Day today, with children taking part in school eisteddfodau - festivals of music and poetry.
