Here are links to some education related news articles from this week:

• Fewer practical experiments in Science lessons – The ‘demands of the curriculum, tests and badly behaved pupils’ are resulting in lesson practical Science experiments taking place.
• Truancy levels in England rise – Truancy levels are now at the highest levels ever recorded.
• Presents for teachers – 93% of teachers have received gifts from their pupils. Have you ever been given any of these?
• Children ‘have nobody to talk to’ – The Children’s Commissioner for England asks if pupils are in danger of becoming too regimented by school life.
• Home schooling in Germany – Parents are not allowed to home school their children in Germany.
• Extra funding for Irish language schools – Millions of pounds are being given to help schools to improve their buildings.
• Free internet access in libraries – A review by the Department of Culture calls for free internet access and e-books in libraries to boost the number of people using them.
• Following the fantastic #movemenon book, teachers on Twitter are now building a collection of tips and advice for new leaders. Follow their ideas here.

• Compulsory standards for nursery food – The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announces that it has asked the School Food Trust to review the rules for nursery food.
• A-Level shake-up – The Conservatives unveil plans for a radical shake-up of A-levels that would see a return to traditional exams taken at the end of two years of study.

Doug Belshaw has started a wonderful new way of sharing teaching tips via Twitter. His idea, called ‘Move Me On’, involves teachers sharing a simple tip or idea in 140 characters by posting it on Twitter with the hashtag #movemeon. At the time of writing this, there are 490 tips in the collection!

You can follow the rest of the ideas at TwapperKeeper. Doug is planning to publish an e-book containing all of the contributed ideas, so follow his blog to find out when this has been published.