Cribsheet daily 22.11.10

Michael Gove's one-man demolition derby has rammed into some well-loved old bangers in the past few days. School sports? Crash! GCSE coursework ? Bash! Next up, teacher training, which promises to be a focus of this week's white paper. Classroom privacy looks likely to take a pounding from the Govemobile: more observation of teachers seems to be a theme. Francis Gilbert calls the white paper "an assault on schools" . "For my fellow professionals at the coalface, it's now clear that this white paper together with cuts to school budgets and the decimation of university funding will very seriously undermine the standards of teaching in our classrooms." Gilbert points to five areas under attack: • Cuts to funding for schools specialisms, including sport. • An end to individual tuition for English and maths. • The axing of teacher training in universities, in favour of training "on the job". • The closure of Teachers TV. • The jettisoning of advanced-skills teachers. Here's a pre-white paper interview with Gove from the TES. What you said An outpouring of rage greeted news of the cuts to school sports funding . Swimming against the tide was DafadDdu: "I agree with Gove actually. The money would be much better spent on updating our nuclear missile programme and maintaining the 4th largest armed forces in the world. You can't negotiate with the Iranians armed with a hockey stick!" Stories from the Guardian and Observer Cabinet split over plan to slash sport in schools Observer editorial: What a spectacular own goal from Michael Gove Don't ruin the health of our children, plead teachers Steve Smith says vice-chancellors must fight for higher fees , Malcolm McVicar breaks ranks Nick Hornby, champion of the written word School pupils plan national walkout over tuition fees 300 academics back students' protests in a letter to the Guardian Polly Toynbee: how do you turn 60,000 students into unqualified dropouts? Abolish the EMA Gove to swap modules for single-exam GCSEs , while the Sutton Trust calls for GCSEs at 14 Islamic schools are accused of preaching anti-semitism and homophobia Stories from around the web Quite a to-do about Vince Cable's claim that the Lib Dems have not broken promises on tuition fees : "We didn't break a promise. We made a commitment in our manifesto, we didn't win the election. We then entered into a coalition agreement, and it's the coalition agreement that is binding upon us and which I'm trying to honour." The New Statesman points out: "His argument is not without merit, although it ignores an obvious alternative: not to enter coalition in the first place. The Lib Dems could have entered a confidence and supply agreement with the Tories and kept their election pledge to vote against any increase in tuition fees." The National Union of Students is not convinced. Aaron Porter says "nothing could be clearer" than the personal pledges about tuition fees made by Liberal Democrats election candidates. Here's the NUS Right to Recall petition , in case you need it. Ministers have given more details of reading tests for six-year-olds in England , the BBC reports. Teachers will run the phonics-based tests for Year 1s. Former political journalist John Sergeant has accepted an honorary doctorate from Teesside University. Watch him looking adorable in cap and gown and giving advice to those considering a career in the media. Campaign Mikebakeredhack tweets today: "Climax of campaign to defend cultural learning in schools/colleges , with Michael Morpurgo tomorrow." And on his blog he writes: "A national campaign to safeguard young people's access to cultural learning reaches a climax this week. The Big Link-Up will bring together schools, arts campaigners, teachers and leading writers and artists in an event which will attempt to highlight the threats to arts provision for young people and to develop a strategy for coping with the current difficult economic climate. "The event is being organised by The Cultural Learning Alliance , a year-long campaign to safeguard cultural learning for young people, be it through art, music, libraries, dance, film or social media. The author, Michael Morpurgo, will address the event, which will held at the British Museum and will be beamed live to several locations around the country." Competition Do you have a clever way of using technology to teach children at your school? Enter the Classroom Innovation awards by sending us a short video of what you can do. There is a primary and secondary category and each winner will get £7,500 of Asus computing kit. 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