Cribsheet 24.02.11

Education stories from today's Guardian • Teenagers Callum Hurley, 16, and Katy Moore, 17, claim that the government broke the law in the way they decided to increase tuition fees. The pair are seeking a judicial review into the government's decision to allow university tuition fees to almost treble to up to £9,000 from next year. They are being represented by Public Interest Lawyers who will argue that the increase disproportionately penalises students from poorer homes. • Germany's defence minister has been stripped of his doctorate for plagiarism. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said "he had been overwhelmed by writing the work while starting a family and launching his political career and that he had been 'arrogant' to believe he could juggle it all at the same time." • Eight schoolchildren have been injured in an air rifle shooting incident in Scotland. • Due to the tuition fees increase, the cost of raising a child from birth until the age of 21 has soared to £210,000, according to research by the insurer LV=. Education stories from around the web • Students with disabilities await with interest the outcome of a test case bought by former Salford University student Shelley Maxwell, The Independent reports. Maxwell suffers from the chronic sleep disorder narcolepsy, and has fought a six year battle against Salford University for perceived disability discrimination. Maxwell enrolled on a degree in military and international history in 2004, but she says the university failed to provide sufficient assistance to help her through the course. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator said that they could not give a ruling as to whether disability discrimination took place or not, so Maxwell has taken her case to the Court of Appeal which will rule after 2pm today. She said: "To have a definitive answer would mean I could embark on future studies knowing I should expect to receive a certain level of assistance from universities with regard to implementation of support packages." • Education Investor magazine, which publishes under the strapline "news and views on the business of learning" is carrying a story on a spat between DfE and free school pioneer Toby Young. Young is exasperated at DfE's unwillingness to provide financial guarantees for his venture, the site reports. Young said that the best solution would be to "allow for-profit companies to set up and own free schools. But the government is not going to do that because it would involve opening a second front in the education war". • Aaron Porter takes a swipe at the "hard Left" in an interview with Times Higher Education (THE) about his imminent departure as leader of the NUS. Porter told THE that support for "the hard Left and its fetishism with street protests and occupations is already dwindling", and a hard-left candidate is unlikely to win the seat. Young apprentices Is your classroom crammed with budding business leaders? Cribsheet can't quite decide whether the act of sending young pupils to the bosom of Lord Sugar's empire would be kind or cruel, but our duty is to report and inform and so that is what we shall do. The decision is yours as to whether you act on this information and it will be you that has to live with the consequences if the young'uns are scarred for life. Sir Alan is looking for 16 and 17 year-olds to take part in Junior Apprentice. Applicants will need to write 300 words about a previous money-making activity they have been involved in, and a short paragraph on what makes them different from everyone else applying. Insight into journalism seminars for teachers A unique opportunity for teachers to spend a day at the Guardian, find out how a national news media organisation works and get ideas and resources that can be used in the classroom. News 11 March Learn about the 24 news cycle; meet news reporters, feature writers, picture and sub editors; understand the role newspaper advertising; go on a tour of the editorial floors and take part in a workshop creating you own news front page which will be evaluated by an editor. Multimedia 31 March Writing for a news website, web editing, blogging, the use of social media, video production; podcasting. Places are limited and likely to fill up quickly, so book soon. 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