A Fine Gael TD has warned that young children are being harmed by heavy schoolbags that can weigh as much as 10% of their own body weight.

The geology department at Trinity College is arranging delivery of the 60,000 pieces of six common kinds of rock to all primary and post-primary schools.

A survey carried out by a UK industry body reveals that most parents and teachers think personal finance should be taught in British schools.

A programme which offers teachers places on research projects in third level colleges has been announced by Micheál Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The biggest review of the British primary curriculum in a decade is to be carried out after increasing concern that the system - especially constant test preparation - is creating unhappy and anti-social children.

There has been an urgent call from medical experts for the introduction of basic CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) training within schools.

Design and Communication Graphics, the Leaving Cert subject which replaced Technical Drawing and will be examined for the first time in 2009, is to be partially assessed on the basis of a project submitted on CD.

The latest OECD study, published yesterday by the Department of Education, reveals that Irish teenagers are ranked among the best in the world for their reading skills.

The Irish Independent reports that grind and fee-paying schools continue to send more students to university.

Work on the development of two new Leaving Certificate subjects - Politics and Society and Physical Education - is at an advanced stage, and draft syllabuses in both are expected to be available next year.

Minister of State for Overseas Development, Michael Kitt, will officially open the conference on 24 Nov. Over 200 practitioners and academics working in the field of international development and development education are expected.

A poem on the English syllabus for Junior Certificate has been criticised by Independent TD Tony Gregory and by the Irish Council against Blood Sports.

The Minister for Education Mary Hanafin was challenged in the Dail to make a clear policy statement on the role of grinds in the education system.

A Cork school, in collaboration with a local employer, has hatched a ground breaking plan for delivery of Physical Education (PE).

A half-day programme in which politicians and civil servants will go out to schools to talk to students of Civil, Social and Political Education (CSPE) is currently being piloted in a number of schools.

Proposed changes to the Leaving Cert examination schedule are aimed at making the tense exams period easier for students

Questions have been raised about methods of marking Leaving Cert papers in light of the high percentage of upgrades following appeals