Oh good, I wasn't just imagining it. Headteachers really are getting younger - the Training and Development Agency says so.
The body responsible for training teachers says since 2004 there's been a 38% rise in the number of teachers under 45 reaching the top.
Also, many more of them are women, 35% more in fact, over the last decade.
Women fill 67% of head and deputy head posts, the TDA says, though they occupy only 12.5% of senior management positions in the top 100 British companies. Graham Holley, TDA chief executive, says:
"There aren't enough women in boardrooms across the country. But once again, the teaching profession is ahead of the trend."
Education news in the Guardian and Observer
• A leading legal aid firm has accused the Metropolitan police of criminalising a generation of students for taking part in the protests against tuition fees. Hodge Jones & Allen says the Met has handed out an excessive number of cautions for the offence of aggravated trespass to students.
• Sir Richard Roberts, Nobel prize-winning British scientist, has resigned from the charity run by Muammar Gaddafi's son that gave a £1.5m donation to the London School of Economics, and disclosed that the funding was awarded without the approval of board members. David Miliband is horrified that an LSE lecture in his father's name was delivered by Saif Gaddafi. Here he is on the BBC.
• Universities across the country will have to close vital science and engineering courses and sack staff unless the home secretary, Theresa May, drops plans to limit UK visas for international students, a powerful alliance of vice-chancellors has warned in a letter to the Observer. British students, meanwhile, are opting to do their degrees abroad.
• Suzanne Moore says trained teachers are actually even better than adorable pig-sawing celebrities.
Education news from around the web
• A 15-year-old Melbourne student is suing the state government for failing to teach him literacy and numeracy. A court heard although the boy suffers from a severe language disorder, ADHD, anxiety and a general learning disorder, his intelligence is too high for him to attend a special needs school. His lawyers say the state promises a "world-class" education, but the boy has been severely bullied, and remains illiterate and innumerate.
• The Mail on Sunday reports that a "highly decorated former head of the SAS" is quitting the army because the government is cutting education allowances for serving soldiers. The "respected colonel" is said to be furious his son can't follow in his footsteps by being educated at Eton.
"The officer is known to the Mail on Sunday but, at the request of the Ministry of Defence, we are not naming him for security reasons."
• Richard Garner in the Independent has written a lovely story about the 77-pupil Gwinear primary school near Redruth which has won a national award for the way it approaches issues such as religion and gay rights.
• @TeacherTalks reviews To Miss With Love, Katharine Birbalsingh's book which is Radio 4's book of the week. Her experience of school life is an unremitting tale of tears, he says:
"So depressing is her experience that rather than borrowing the title from ER Braithwaite, she should have turned to Private Frazer from Dad's Army and called it: 'We're doomed!"
Birbalsingh's friend Aladin had his say in the Guardian on Saturday:
"I like and admire much about Katharine, but have found myself increasingly perplexed by her shifts of public persona over the years, which seem to bear little relation to my knowledge and experience of her as she 'really' is, or was."
• Swedish universities are to start charging tuition fees to students from outside the European Union, the THE reports. While tuition will remain free for home and EU students, others will be charged fees that may average around £11,000, it says.
Blogs of the day
• Excellent and much tweeted about blog by @richspencer1979 reckons teachers would make pretty good cooks. Now there's an idea for a TV programme…
"Surely well planned and engaging lessons with excellent content should be the staple ambition of the day-to-day classroom experience? The content is your ingredients, the delivery and choice of activities akin to the skill a great chef brings."
What the great chef can't do, Spencer points out, is pick and choose who eats his food:
"I don't know of a single three star restaurant which selects their customers or throws them out half way through if they aren't enjoying their dinner."
• Also Alastair Campbell has done a rather sweet blog on his favourite teacher. Well, it's sort of about the teacher:
"He probably quite liked me because I worked hard and he said I had an extraordinary capacity for retention. If he was explaining some complicated construction in German, I got it straightaway."
Media skills seminar for education leaders
This one-day seminar on 22 March is organised by the Guardian and the NAHT.
Whether it's sharing good news or handling a crisis, headteachers and senior school management teams need to be able to handle the media in all of its forms. This seminar is for new and aspiring heads, established school leaders who wish to update their knowledge, and chairs of governing bodies who may find themselves in the media limelight. Speakers will cover print and TV, and give up-to-the-minute advice on the internet and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Caricature masterclass by a Guardian cartoonist
Sharpen your pencils - the Prince's Drawing School is running a weekend masterclass for adults, led by Nicola Jennings, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March from 10am to 4pm.
The weekend will begin with a brief history of caricature, followed by a look at the proportions of the face. Students will learn to observe and analyse facial expressions and movements, highlighting appropriate characteristics to describe personality. Here's the booking form.
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.
Find us on the Guardian website
All today's EducationGuardian stories
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
EducationGuardian resources
The Guardian University Guide 2011
The Guardian Postgraduate Guide 2011
The world's top 100 universities
More education links on the Guardian
Free online classroom resources from the Teacher Network
