Update: 12:45

FE lecturers defect to schools
Lecturers are quitting the further education sector in favour of "better terms and conditions" offered in schools, Labour's Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, told the House of Commons yesterday. He warned that a "huge pay gap" was opening up. Leader of the House Robin Cook said he would draw education secretary Estelle Morris's attention to Mr Prentice's comments.

Edexcel continues to blunder
Controversial exam board Edexcel has made seven errors in exam papers this year. The board made five mistakes in the January series of exams and two in the May/June series, junior education minister Stephen Twigg told the House of Commons.

Oxford herbarium to reopen
Lord Sainsbury, the minister for science, is to reopen a newly refurbished collection of preserved plants owned by Oxford University on Monday. The Daubeny Herbarium, one of the biggest collections of dried plants at a UK university, has been reorganised to make it easier for researchers, students and the public to access the collection.

Stars launch Iris Murdoch memorial appeal
The stars of the film Iris are to celebrate the life and work of Iris Murdoch at a fund-raising event in her memory for Oxford University. Dame Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and the film's director Sir Richard Eyre will launch a memorial appeal on Wednesday to raise £2.75 million to fund bursaries for disadvantaged students at St Anne's College, where Dame Iris taught, and endow a professorship in old age psychiatry specialising in Alzheimer's disease.

Football fans bound to bounce back
The nation will be disappointed but not devastated by today's World Cup defeat and should bounce back within days, psychologist Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University said today. Businesses were likely to notice a drop in productivity today because of England's exit from the competition, said the psychology professor who has carried out research into football fanaticism.